MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Buenos Aires re-inaugurates an impressive re-furbished Teatro Colon

One of the world’s top opera houses during the Bicentenary performances

Buenos Aires iconic Colón Theatre, probably the world’s most impressive opera house known for its acoustics, shone once again Monday evening with a gala that launched its re-opening after a three-year restoration process, as the milestone of Argentina’s Bicentenary celebrations.

With 2,700 special guests and a crowd that gathered outside before the theatre's majestic façade, the ceremony began on the street on an enormous stage where 120 dancers gave a show, while giant images of the coliseum's history were projected on its walls.

The multimedia show flooded the façade with lights, colour, and music on the 9 de Julio Avenue, the centre of the Bicentenary festivities, where thousands of people participated in the mega-feast that began last Friday.

The director of the theatre, Pedro García Caffi, welcomed the re-opening and considered that the important thing was “to give back the theatre to the people.”

“May the Colón, through its shows, give back to the people the best it has to offer, excellence in the arts,” he said.

Uruguayan President José Mujica assisted the ceremony and remained in Buenos Aires until Tuesday, when the week of bicentenary festivities will end, along with his colleagues from Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil.

The special guests enjoyed an artistic programming that included the Huemac dance, the third act of Swan Lake, and the second act of the La Boheme opera, in charge of the Orchestra, the Ballet, and the stable choirs of the Theatre and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Buenos Aires.

The Colón Theatre was inaugurated in 1908, only two years before the festivities of the first one hundred years of the Mayo Revolution that paved way for Argentina's independence from Spain, proclaimed in 1816.

Because of political differences between the Mayor of Buenos Aires City (and 2011 presidential hopeful) Mauricio Macri, Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, her ministerial cabinet and faithful governors did not attend the gala opening.

The three-year restoration of the Teatro Colón demanded 300 million US dollars and according to Mayor Macri involved thousands of professionals, artisans and workers, all Argentines. The original theatre was constructed by Italian designers and craftsmen.