National Theatre Vasile Alecsandri - Iasi Opera (Iaşi)

 theatre, architecture - Do not use this category, Neoclassical (architecture), 1896_construction, architectural heritage

On the night of 17/18 February 1888, the old theatre building from Copou was destroyed by fire.
The efforts to build the new theatre edifice culminated in 1894 when a contract was signed with the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who designed several theatres and palaces across Europe, including the theatres in: Vienna, Prague, Odessa, Zurich, Cluj-Napoca, Oradea, Timișoara and Chernivtsi (Romanian: Cernăuţi).
For the building work, a contract was signed with a Bucharest company, and the power station was built by a company from Berlin. The Theatre’s power station also supplied with electricity the 12 electric-arc lamps lighting the Theatre Square, marking the beginning of electrification in the city of Iași. The works to building took two years, and on 1 and 2 December 1896, the inauguration festivities took place with Flechtenmacher's National Overture, the vaudevilles Muza de la Burdujeni (The Muse from Burdujeni) by Costache Negruzzi and Cinel-cinel (The Riddle) by Vasile Alecsandri, as well as the verse comedy Poetul romantic (The Romantic Poet) by Matei Millo.
With a Neoclassic exterior and a richly decorated interior in Rococo and Baroque styles, the building is considered one of the most elegant in Romania
Nowadays, the building also hosts the Iași National Romanian Opera.
www.teatrul-vasile-alecsandri.ro/