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Malliaropouleio Municipal Theater

COUNTY: Arcadia MUNICIPALITY: Tripoli

Clouds
6.99ºC

Category

Neoclassical, Neo-baroque

TL;DR

A beautiful and elegant Neo-Baroque theatre, made to the plans of important architects and artists.

Malliaropouleio Municipal Theater is an imposing neoclassical building, constructed in 1905 and inaugurated five years later in 1910. It was declared a scheduled building and it represents one of the most beautiful and elegant Neo-Baroque theaters of Greece. It was named after the doctor Ioannis Malliaropoulos, who funded its construction.

The work was assigned to Anastasios Metaxas one of the most important and creative architects of that period. The interior decoration was assigned to the French artist Jolie.The first performance took place on February 7, 1910 with a play of Pavlos Gkavo entitled “Miss Chocolate”, by the Rosalia Vonasera’s theater company.

The Theater had its glory days, since names such as Paxinou, Minotis and Kotopouli appeared on its stage. In 1962, the theater closed and in 1965 it was placed in the hands of the Municipality that completely neglected it; as a result in 1975 a big part of its roof collapsed. In 1976, by ministerial decree, it was declared a listed building and the architect Solonas Kydoniatis was in charge of its restoration. The old wooden roof was replaced with a metal one.

In June 2002 under the supervision of the architect P. Tavaniotis both interior and exterior features of the building were replaced and the colors were renewed. Today, the Theater has 233 deep red velvet seats with carved frames.

The dressing rooms and the theater boxes were also replaced and the utility rooms of the basement were waterproofed. The Theater was also equipped with a sub-station of electricity as well as a modern fire protection system. The Theater is truly a gem in the town of Tripoli.