The Gran Teatre del Liceu or the Liceu Grand Theatre is an Opera house which is located on La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain. The Catalan just refer to it as Liceu which also has a metro station of the same name. It was opened back on the 4th of April 1847 and is a cultural landmark of Barcelona.
Unlike most places of this nature in Europe where the Crown maintains the building, this particular opera house was built and funded by private shareholders called the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu.
Back in 1838 commander Manuel Gibert Sans who created a battalion in the secularized convent of Montsio. The purpose of this convent was for the musical education and art for Liceu students. The opera was later built in the convent building.
In 1861 the building was seriously damaged in a fire but the architect Josep Mestres was commissioned to rebuild it and it reopened in April of the following year.
During the Spanish Civil war period the Opera house was nearly shut down completely due to the huge financial crisis that the war created. Liceu was nationalized and took the name of Teatre del Liceu. The Seasons for opera were suspended but the original owners took it over after 1939.
The seasons were good from 1940 – 1960s. A special board in 1955 brought in Wieland Wagner to perform Tristan and Isolde, Die Walkure and Parsifal. They were all a commercial ad critical success.
During the 1990s the death of Joan Antoni Pamais showed that change was needed in the official bodies if the opera house was to survive. A fire sparked during a routine repair by a spark falling on a curtain causing another fire. The building was nearly destroyed. The theatre became national and was rebuilt at the demand of the people as a heritage site.
The opera house itself is situated right near ShBarcelona, a company to rent apartments in Barcelona. To rent a flat in Barcelona to see the opera house the process has never been more simple. This historic landmark is something that cannot be missed when visiting the city.