Opera House

The Opera House, also known as the Royal Opera House or Lisbon Opera Theatre, was built at the order of King José I, who hired the architect and stage designer Giovanni Galli Bibiena (1717-1760). Located next to the river, where the Naval Arsenal is to be found today, it was part of the complex formed by the royal palace and the patriarchal church. Opening on 31 March 1755, on the occasion of the birthday celebrations of Queen Mariana Victoria of Bourbon (1718-1781), it was destroyed in in the earthquake of November of the same year.

It was an Italianate theatre, with four rows of boxes, a deep stage with a royal balcony facing it, closely following the model of the opera houses of Nancy and Vienna, designed by Francesco Bibiena (1659-1739), Giovanni Bibiena’s father.