Gran Teatre del Liceu

The Gran Teatre del Liceu stands on La Rambla in Barcelona as an opera house still serving its original purpose. Its auditorium forms a horseshoe around a main floor and five balconies. Brass lamps shaped like drakes brighten the ornament.

Founded in 1837 as the Liceo Filodramático de Montesión, the institution first promoted musical education in a convent building. Students staged Italian operas there for Barcelona audiences. Construction on La Rambla began in 1845, and the theatre opened two years later with Donizetti's Anna Bolena. A fire severely damaged the theatre in 1861. Another fire destroyed much of the structure in 1994, prompting reconstruction on the same site with surviving elements preserved. The rebuilt venue opened on the site in 1999.

The reconstructed auditorium holds 2,292 seats, with golden and polychrome plaster mouldings above the audience. Five balconies rise above the broad main floor. The building has its own choir, symphony orchestra, and music college, while electronic librettos offer translations in three languages. In 2020, a performance for more than 2,000 house plants marked the end of Spain's lockdown before healthcare workers received the plants.