CERVANTES THEATER IN MALAGA

Location: Malaga

Author: José Seguí Pérez. Architect

ESTUDIO SEGUÍ

Date: 1986

Commission: Directorate General of Architecture of the Ministry of Public Works

Built Area: 2.950 m2

The municipal decision to refurbish the Cervantes Theatre in Malaga began with the acquisition of the building in 1984 by the Municipal Corporation of Malaga, presided over by its Mayor, Pedro Aparicio, who, together with the Directorate General of Architecture of the then Ministry of Public Works, commissioned the refurbishment work for this great protected building, designed by the architect Gerónimo Cuervo in 1870, with the artistic collaboration of the painter Bernardo Ferrándiz, who created the magnificent ceiling of the Theatre.

Later, and throughout its activity as a theatre, a series of modifications were made to the building, ending with its adaptation as a cinema in 1950 until its definitive closure and abandonment of its activity, which caused a high degree of deterioration of the building as a whole. The refurbishment not only attempts to recover the original state of the project, with its interesting “horseshoe” plan in reference to the great Italian theatres of the time and its exceptional solution of the wooden structure of the building’s roof and stage box, but also complements it with the new added body of dressing rooms and the creation of the public space of the square, which gives it its urban qualification. Likewise, it is worth highlighting the rehabilitation and interpretation of all the furniture of the seats and new lighting designs, highlighting the large lamps in the entrance hall. The new Cervantes Theatre was inaugurated in 1987 in the presence of H.M. Queen Sofia, winning the “Europa Nostra” Prize (UNESCO) and Best Andalusian Rehabilitation in 1987.