An open space next to the theatre known as the Plazuela de las Artes (or as the Plazuela Rosa Merino)[1] hosts open-air activities.[2]
History
The Forero Theatre (Spanish: Teatro Forero) was built in 1915, replacing the demolished Olimpo Theatre (Spanish: Teatro Olimpo), according to the design of Manuel María Forero Osorio, born in Tacna. The Renaissance/Baroque-style theatre was inaugurated on July 28, 1920 with the start of the season of the "Grand Italian Opera Company of Adolfo Bracale" (Spanish: Gran Compañía de Opera Italiana de Adolfo Bracale), who performed Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida.[3][4] The theatre was named after its builder.[5]
The newspaper El Comercio noted the following regarding the first night of the theater:
It is a theater that satisfies the most demanding, beautiful, monumental, elegant, with severe elegance, comfortable and spacious; We have never had anything like it in Peru and it is one of the best theaters in South America.
It was bought by the Metropolitan Municipality of Lima in 1929 and renamed to its current name through a Mayor's Resolution of June 15 of that year.
Fire and reconstruction
On August 2, 1998, during a show rehearsal, the theater was consumed by a raging fire that lasted two hours and destroyed part of its structure without causing definitive structural damage.[7][8] The building remained unrestored for 12 years, opening only sporadically for special performances.
The theater was eventually reconstructed following its original structural design, and it was expanded to include additional parking, anti-seismic technology and updated fireproofing. It was reinaugurated on October 11, 2010.[9]
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