Teatro Principal

The facade of the Teatro Principal features a rhythmic row of five balconies separated by slender, dark stone columns, distinguishing it from the surrounding granite buildings. Originally commissioned in eighteen forty-one, the theater replaced an older playhouse that burned down. Antonio Lopez Ferreiro, a local historian, famously described the inaugural performance as a chaotic affair where the elite of Santiago struggled to hear the actors over the noise from the crowded, unrefined gallery seats. It remains the city's oldest active theater.