The Council of Ministers,at the proposal of the Minister of Culture,Ernest Urtasun,approved this morning the declaration as Assets of Cultural Interest (BIC) in the Monument category of the Comedy Theater and the National Music Auditorium building,both in Madrid. This implies the application of this category of protection, the maximum established by Law 16/1985, of June 25, on Spanish Historical Heritage.
The processing of the files to obtain this declaration began last July, in the case of the National Auditorium, and in the month of September, that of the Teatro de la Comedia.
Comedy Theater,an example of iron architecture The Madrid Comedy Theater is the work of architect Agustín Ortiz de Villajos. Currently, it houses the headquarters of the National Classical Theater Company, dependent on the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), an autonomous state institution dependent on the Ministry of Culture.
The building responds to the style of nineteenth-century theaters, with a sober design and a classically inspired façade. Its most significant room is the main room of the theater, shaped like a horseshoe, with a wooden stage and a ceiling with paintings by José Vallejo y Galeazo representing a transparent sky with trompe-l’œil of Arab architecture on its pendentives.
Ortiz de Villajos decided to use iron in its structure and decoration, thus making it an emblematic example of Madrid iron architecture.
History The Comedy theater was inaugurated on September 18, 1875, 150 years ago, on Príncipe Street in Madrid, in the Barrio de las Letras. Its origins are found in the coliseum that the venue and party businessman Silverio López Larrainza wanted to build on the site of a neighborhood patio he owned, located on Calle del Príncipe 14 and Calle Núñez de Arce.
The works began in 1873 and tirso García Escudero de la Torre was its sole owner from the 1896-97 season until his death in 1950. On its stages the premieres of the classics of the Golden age and authors such as Jacinto benavente, Benito Pérez galdós, the Álvarez Quintero brothers and Leandro Fernández de Moratín were celebrated.
In 1915, a fire destroyed the interior of the theater and the room was rebuilt in a few months by architects Luis Bellido and josé López Sallaberry. As then it continued its activity, which was interrupted during the Civil war.
In the 70s, self-reliant performances with social and political themes were performed there, such as ‘Castañuela 70’, ‘Yerma’ or ‘Sócrates’. On its stage the first nude in Spanish theater was shown during the franco regime, with the play ‘equus’.
In 1998 the Ministry of Culture bought the theater and acquired five of the building’s floors to