Lisbon - Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos

The Lisbon opera house is situated on the south side of the inconspicuous Largo de Sao Carlos in Chiado. It was built in 1792 to the plans of José da Costa e Silva to replace an earlier opera house which had been completely destroyed by the earthquake. In contrast to the first opera house the new one was not purely the domain of the royal family but became at that time increasingly more popular with the rising bourgeoisie. It was, in fact, some wealthy citizens who commissioned and paid for the new building. Performances of predominantly Italian operas - with mainly Italian casts - gave the Lisbon opera a good name for some time in the 19th century. Musical guests to the Lisbon opera included Toscanini, Saint-Saëns, Liszt, Richard Strauss