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Manaus' Other Distinction: Teatro Amazonas

Janos Gereben on June 17, 2014
Teatro Amazonas in Manaus
Teatro Amazonas in Manaus

Manaus, the venue for the American World Cup team's next match, after the improbable victory over Ghana yesterday in Natal, is home to one of the world's exceptional opera houses.

Built in the heart of Brazil's Amazon rainforest during the Gold Rush-equivalent rubber boom of the late 19th century, Teatro Amazonas is a luxurious building, the location for the annual Festival Amazonas de Ópera and home to the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra.

Designed by Italian architect Celestial Sacardim, the theater was put together from material imported from Europe and transported through jungle rivers and terrain without roads. A great fictional account of the project is Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo.

The premiere of Ponchielli's La Gioconda in 1897 took place in a building with roofing tiles from Alsace, steel walls from Scotland, Carrara marble for the stairs, statues, and columns; the dome is covered with 36,000 decorated ceramic tiles, under which 198 Italian chandeliers provided lighting.

(Next in Manaus, U.S. vs. Portugal, 3 p.m. Pacific Time, June 22.)