Architectural Features

Thanks to the gold-leafed mosaics on the front façade topping the building, even from afar, the building is understood to be a theater building. These three mosaics are from the Venetian house of Salviati and representing the tragedy, the comedy, and the music. They constitute one of the few existing examples of the influence of Byzantine art in Cuba.

On the entrance, the first thing that catches your eye is the real size marble statue representing Tomás Terry sitting and resting. The rich man depicted in a natural way, and it seems so, as if he is pleased that his wish come true. The floor of the entrance hall is covered with Carrara marble. The ceiling is decorated with a wonderful oil painting fresco. On the left is the ticket office and the very nicely furnished contaduría (accountancy).

Inspired by the coliseum concept in Italian theater architecture, the auditorium was built in a horseshoe style, with the audience dispersed over four floors. A total of 950 wooden folding seats were fitted into the auditorium. The wooden seats carry masterfully wrought cast iron ornaments. The auditorium is surrounded by many open boxes, while there are only six closed boxes on either side of the stage.

The stage is 24 meters wide and 19 meters deep. The stage height is 7 meters, and the entire stage area is approximately 220 square meters. The stage, which has a burgundy-colored curtain as usual, is surrounded by a magnificent woodwork that is masterfully processed and dominated by gold. This hand-carved Cuban hardwood features a harp motif on both sides, and an expressive figurehead by sculptor Matoe Torriente, installed in 1965.

On the suspended ceiling is an enormous oil painting with 23 allegorical figures in the middle. Around this ceiling painting are the portraits of the poet and writer Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda from Camagüey and the composer Gaspar de Villate from Havana. These oil-painted frescoes decorating the ceilings and walls of the auditorium and the entrance hall belong to the Filipino-Madrilenian artist Camilo Selaya, a graduate of the San Fernando Academy in Madrid who lived in Havana and decorated the La Caridad Theater in Santa Clara also.

There is no air conditioning in the theater, and the environment is tried to be cooled with many fans.