Opera Theatre

Here you stand, right in the heart of Place de la Comédie, facing the magnificent Opera Theatre of Metz, . one of the first theaters ever built in France and also the oldest one still in operation. It’s also one of the last to have its own workshops creating it’s own costumes and sets. Let’s go back to 1732. At that time, the island you’re standing on now was a muddy and uninhabited wasteland used as a firewood warehouse. The city then had the great idea of paving it and building the Entertainment Hotel there. The Governor of Metz, Marshal de Belle Isle, had quays arranged, bridges built, thus organizing the city’s first modern square. Being particularly sensitive to art and culture, the marshal wanted a sumptuous theater hotel. The construction of the theater would be long and complicated, interrupted by the War of the Austrian Succession, but at its inauguration in 1752, this Italian-style theater was considered “one of the most beautiful theaters in France.” The peristyle, topped with a terrace, was built two years later to connect the three pavilions. During the Revolution, the guillotine was set up in front of the theater , claiming 33 heads. As for the statues you see on the roof, they were added in 1858 by the Metz sculptor Charles Pêtre and represent Tragedy, Inspiration, Lyrical Poetry, Comedy, and Music. In 1887, the city, not very comfortable with using oil lamps to illuminate its theater , decided to install electricity. Turbines were then installed at the nearby thermal mill, which became the city’s first electric power plant, also providing light to the city’s squares! The theater has been a historical monument, since 1930.