El Gran Teatre Del Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu was built in 1847 and is a unique cultural facility in Barcelona and one of Europe’s leading opera houses. Located on the Rambla, every year it hosts major opera and ballet productions and symphony concerts. (map)

The history of this emblem of Barcelona has been marked by fire. The original opera house, built by Miquel Garriga in 1847 on the site of a Trinitarian monastery, was burnt down in 1861 and rebuilt by Josep Oriol Mestres. On the exterior, its simplicity is only broken by its characteristic facade with a central body of three large windows, but on the interior it is one of the most lavishly decorated opera houses in the world. After the theatre burnt down again in 1994, it was rebuilt once more, this time by the architect Ignasi de Solà-Morales, who restored it to its original lavish style and recovered the rooms with trompe l’oeil and Pompeiian paintings.

Despite the sobriety of its architecture, it features a canopy of wrought iron over the main entrance and sgraffito work that pays homage to Calderón de la Barca, Mozart, Rossini and Moratín. Almost at the corner of the Rambla and Carrer Sant Pau, the building of the Liceu houses a truly elitist sanctuary: the Cercle del Liceu, a traditional and aristocratic private institution, an old club in the purest English style, which conceals in its inner rooms memorable works by the Modernista painters Ramon Casas and Alexandre de Riquer, and stained glass decorated with Wagnerian themes by Oleguer Junyent.  

The five-tier auditorium seats 2,292, making the Gran Teatre del Liceu on Barcelona’s Rambla one of the world’s biggest opera houses. The season of opera, dance and music runs from September to July. There are also guided tours of the main areas of the theatre, allowing visitors to enjoy every detail and the magnificence of its architecture. Highlights include the main auditorium, the foyer and hall of mirrors, as well as the Cercle del Liceu (This last one, only visit on guided tours).
Guided tour: 10.00 am, daily (1 hour 10 min)
Express tour: 11.30 am, 12.00 midday, 12.30 pm and 1 pm, daily (20 minutes).

The program for this coming fall : Celebration of  the bicentenary of Verdi's birth ( Sunday Oct. 6 : Excerpts from Giovanna d’Arco, I masnadieri, Jerusalem, Stiffelio, Il trovatore, La Traviata, Les vêpres siciliennes and Un ballo in maschera ). Prices : 8,50 €, 23 €, 32 €, 44 €, 59 €, 78 €, 99 €, 133,75 €

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