Teatro de la República
Querétaro theatre of 1852 where the Constituent Congress drafted Mexico's 1917 constitution.
Building began in 1845 on the initiative of the state government, to designs by the architect Camilo de San Germán, who was replaced during the works by the English engineer Thomas Surplice. The theatre opened on 2 May 1852 as the Gran Teatro de Iturbide and was given its present name in 1922. Its plain stone front on Avenida Juárez gives little sign of the horseshoe auditorium inside, which rises through tiers of boxes to a painted ceiling and a large central chandelier.
The building is remembered as much for what happened in it as for what is staged there. A court martial held in the theatre in 1867 sentenced the Emperor Maximilian and his generals to death, and between December 1916 and January 1917 the Constituent Congress sat here to debate and approve the constitution promulgated by Venustiano Carranza on 5 February 1917. The names of the deputies are recorded on the walls. The hall is still used for concerts, including by the Querétaro state philharmonic, and for state ceremonies.
Highlights
- Seat of the 1916–17 Congress that drafted Mexico's constitution
- Horseshoe auditorium of tiered boxes beneath a painted ceiling
- Site of the 1867 court martial of the Emperor Maximilian
- Opened in 1852 as the Gran Teatro de Iturbide
