The Ministry of Culture begins proceedings to declare the building of the Theatre of Comedy in Madrid as a Cultural Asset

• Located in a neighborhood of great theatrical tradition

• It is the highest category of protection established by Law 16/1985, of June 25, on Spanish Historical Heritage
• The Theatre of Comedy, the current venue of the National Classical Theatre Company of the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), is a clear example of Madrid’s iron architecture
• Inaugurated on September 18, 1875, this year celebrates its 150th anniversary, a commemoration that will count from October to the month of December with the exhibition ‘150 years of the Comedy Theatre’

The Ministry of Culture has initiated proceedings to declare the Theatre of Comedy in Madrid a Cultural Asset (BIC) in the category of monument.

The Official State Gazette of yesterday includes the opening of the file, which involves the application of this category of protection, the maximum established by Law 16/1985, of June 25, on Spanish Historical Heritage.

Located in a neighborhood of great theatrical tradition

The Theatre of Comedy was inaugurated on September 18, 1875, 150 years ago, on Príncipe Street in Madrid, in the Barrio de las Letras. Its origins are in the coliseum that the businessman of rooms and parties Silverio López Larrainza wanted to build on the plot of a courtyard of neighbors of his property, 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. In its tables were celebrated the premieres of the classics of the Golden Age and of authors such as Jacinto Benavente, Benito Pérez Galdós, the brothers Álvarez Quintero or Leandro Fernández de Moratín.

In 1915, a fire destroyed the interior of the theater and the room was rebuilt in a few months by the architects Luis Bellido and José López Sallaberry. Since then it continued its activity, which was interrupted during the Civil War.

At the time of the 70s, independent social and political performances were represented in it, such as ‘Castañuela 70’, ‘Yerma’ or ‘Sócrates’. In his stage, the first nude of the Spanish theater was shown during the Franco era, with the play ‘Equus’.

In 1998, the Ministry of Culture purchased the theater and acquired five of the floors of the building to consolidate the Comedy Theater as the stable headquarters of the National Classical Theater Company. In 2002, the Comedy was closed to the public to undergo a wide-ranging reform, and reopened in 2015.

An example of Madrid’s iron architecture

El Teatro de la Comedia de Madrid es obra del arquitecto Agustín Ortiz de Villajos. Currently, it houses the headquarters of the National Company of Classical Theatre, dependent on the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music (INAEM), an autonomous state body dependent on the Ministry of Culture.

The company will celebrate the building’s 150th anniversary with an exhibition in October in the theater lobby. The building responds to the style of the nineteenth-century theatres, with a sober design and a façade of classical inspiration. Its most significant dependence is the main hall of the theater, in the shape of a horseshoe, wooden stage and ceiling with paintings by José Vallejo and Galeazo representing a transparent sky with trompe-l’oeil of Arab architectures in its pechins.

Ortiz de Villajos decided to use iron in its structure and decoration, making it an emblematic example of Madrid’s iron architecture. The theater also has the Tirso de Molina room, located on the fifth floor of the Theater, a multipurpose space of new creation