Municipal Theatre Ignacio A. Pane
Asunción's oldest theatre, a neoclassical house of 1889 restored in 2005 and run by the city council.
A first theatre rose on the site during the consulship of Carlos Antonio López in the 1840s and later served as a meeting place for Congress. The businessman Baudilio Alió rebuilt it, and the new National Theatre was inaugurated on 21 July 1889 with a performance by the Spanish company Estudiantina Figaro. The neoclassical front carries a rusticated ground floor, pilasters and a balustraded parapet. In 1939 the city council renamed the house after Ignacio A. Pane, the Paraguayan poet, sociologist and parliamentarian.
Structural decay closed the theatre in 1995. Restoration work began in September 2004 and the building reopened in December 2005 with new services and stage equipment. The horseshoe auditorium now holds about 600 people across the stalls, two tiers of boxes and an upper paraíso, with a stage of some 225 square metres and a pit for around ninety players. Managed by the Asunción municipality, it presents drama, dance, opera and orchestral concerts, and opens for free costumed guided tours called Dramatour.
Highlights
- Neoclassical facade on Presidente Franco, rebuilt in the 1880s
- Horseshoe auditorium with boxes, tertulia and paraíso levels
- Bust of the guitarist Agustín Pío Barrios in the foyer
- Free Dramatour visits led by actors playing figures from its history
