Theatres of Brazil

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   The Paz Theatre
   Neoclassical Style
   (1869 - 1878) Belém, PA

he Paz ("Peace") Theatre was designed by the military engineer José Tibúrcio Pereira de Magalhães, a native of Pernambuco, who from 1871 on had directed the reconstruction of the Santa Isabel Theatre in Recife. The Paz Theatre is notable for it free-standing position in its square, the Praça da República. It is neoclassical in style, a fact obvious from the simplicity of it volumetric organization, the ample four-sided roof, and the pediment of the principal façade. The Theatre was first build with a peristyle of seven columns, and is peculiar in that the central façade axis passes through one of the columns and not through an intervening space. To conciliate this project with rigorous classical canons, it was necessary to reduce the number of supporting elements to six - as was done during the rebuild started in 1904.
The adaptation, carried out by Augusto Calandrini de Chermont, moved the first-floor peristyle backwards, leaving the loggia uncovered. Niches were added, with busts representing Music, Poetry, Comedy and Tragedy. Curved pseudopediments in the lateral openings of the façade hold allegorical figures and the Arms of the Republic occupy a central position. All these alterations were intended to give greater movement to the frontispiece, as required by eclectic taste of the time.

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Theatres in the Historical Center of Rio