Teatru Manoel [Valletta]
type: Item
label: Manoel Theatre @nl
label: Teatro Manoel @it
description: Theatre building in Valletta, Malta, opened in 1731
description: theater in Valletta, Malta @nl
alternative label: Teatru Manoel
EUTA building identifier: 894
Importance: Not rated
Type of information: Performance venue
Field: architecture
Country: Malta
City: Valletta
GPS: Point(14.5128 35.8998)
Wikidata source: Q576800
Building date: 1731-01-01T00:00:00Z
theatrEurope table: HST_0082
member Perspectiv: yes
context: No heritage stage machinery contact Perspectiv: Elizabeth Ebejer, CEO
context: An eighteenth-century playhouse built by the Grand Master Antonio de Vilhena in 1731. It opened a year later with a performance of Maffei's Merope, and flourished for a century or more with a nine-month season of mixed opera and plays. Renamed the Royal Theatre by the British occupying powers, it continued pre-eminent until the building of the much larger Opera House, after which it sank into disrepair. In the 1953 steps were taken to restore it. It was bought by the Maltese Government, and in 1957 a committee was set up to rebuild and modernize it backstage while retaining the historic auditorium and facade. On 27 Dec. 1960 it reopened as the National Theatre of Malta with a season by the Ballet Rambert.
opening date: 1732-01-01T00:00:00Z
Capacity: 623
Address: 115 Triq it-Teatru l-Antik
Web: www.teatrumanoel.com.mt
Member of: PERSPECTIV
time frame: Baroque
Wikidata instance: Q41253
Wikidata instance: Q153562
Carthalia ID: 477
Preservation state: extant building
Preservation state: Used as theatre today
Note: Built 1731-1732 within 10 months by Francesco Zerafa and Antonio Azzopardi for the Grand Master of the Maltese Order, Fra Antonio Manoel de Vilhena. Opened 19 Jan 1732 with Scipione Maffei's drama La Merope. Later also known as Teatro reale. Restorations in 1812, 1844, and 1960.