TEATRO JUAREZ

The Teatro Juarez is perhaps the city's most important monument, a witness to its glorious past and living proof of its cultural dynamism, still intact. Its construction was decided in 1872, one year after the death of Benito Juárez, to whom it obviously owes its name. The theatre replaced a hotel, which was itself installed on the site of the very old convent of San Diego. It was inaugurated on October 27, 1903 with Verdi's opera Aida, performed by an Italian company, and the dictator Porfirio Díaz himself, to the accompaniment of French champagne and Russian caviar. The architecture is eclectic, as was the fashion for public buildings at the time. The most striking exterior feature is the Roman-inspired Doric peristyle, with eight bronze sculptures of Greek muses at the top. The auditorium corresponds to the European model, in the shape of a horseshoe with a parterre and four levels of balconies; at the ends of the stage are the boxes reserved for the widows of high society, who had a discreet entrance in order to maintain the decorum due to their mourning. The interior decoration is quite spectacular, made of coloured stucco models of Moorish influence (it is said to have been inspired by the Alhambra Palace in Granada). At the top of the building, don't miss the smoking room, crowned by an Art Nouveau-inspired dome. A visit to one of the most spectacular buildings in the city is a must.