"The Gran Teatre del Liceu was built in 1847 and is a unique cultural facility in Barcelona and one of Europe’s leading opera houses. Located on the Rambla, every year it hosts major opera and ballet productions and symphony concerts. The building was destroyed by fire in 1994 and reopened in 1999 after a magnificent reconstruction.
The Gran Teatre del Liceu was built on the Rambla by Barcelona’s affluent classes on the site of a former convent. It was designed to house the Music Conservatory and with the main purpose of creating a venue where high society could go to see opera, the star cultural attraction of the time. The Liceu soon became a Barcelona landmark, to such an extent that its destruction by the fire in 1994 sent shockwaves through Catalan society. The reconstruction project provided the Liceu building with highly advanced technical facilities and stage equipment, and faithfully restored the original splendour of one of the most well-known opera houses.
The five-tier auditorium seats 2,292, making the Gran Teatre del Liceu on Barcelona’s Rambla one of the world’s biggest opera houses. The season of opera, dance and music runs from September to July. There are also guided tours of the main areas of the theatre, allowing visitors to enjoy every detail and the magnificence of its architecture. Highlights include the main auditorium, the foyer and hall of mirrors, as well as the Cercle del Liceu, a private club which is a superb example of Catalan art nouveau, or modernisme. It contains period furniture and original works by the painter Ramon Casas."
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"The death of Joan Antoni Pàmias in 1980 revealed the need for the intervention of the official bodies if the institution was to remain a leading opera house. In 1981 the Generalitat de Catalunya with Barcelona's City Council and the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu created the Consorci del Gran Teatre del Liceu (Consortium of the Great Liceu Theater) responsible for the theater's management.
The Diputation of Barcelona and the Spanish Ministry of Culture joined the Consortium in 1985 and 1986 respectively. The Consortium managed to quickly attract the public back to the Liceu owing to a considerable improvement in its artistic standard. This included a more complete and up-to-date perspective of the very nature of an opera performance, a great improvement in the choir and orchestra, careful casting, and attracting the interest of the public to other aspects of productions besides the leading roles alone. This approach, coupled with the new economic support and a more demanding and discerning public, resulted in a high standard of productions.
The seasons organised by the Consortium maintained high standards in casting, production and public loyalty, as measured by public attendance, but all this came to a halt with a fire on January 31, 1994. The building was destroyed by a fire caused by a spark that accidentally fell on the curtain during a routine repair. At this time Paul Hindemith's Mathis der Maler was performing at the theatre and the following opera to be performed was Puccini's Turandot.
Public and institutional response was unanimous on the need to rebuild a new opera house on the same site with improved facilities. The new Liceu is the result of a series of actions to preserve those parts of the building unaffected by the fire, the same ones as had survived the 1861 fire. The auditorium was rebuilt with the same layout, except for the roof paintings which were replaced by new art works by Perejaume, and state-of-the-art stage technology.
In order to rebuild and improve the theater, the theater became public. The Fundació del Gran Teatre del Liceu (Liceu Great Theater Foundation) was created and the Societat del Gran Teatre del Liceu handed over owners of the building to the Foundation. Some owners disagreed with the decision, which was challenged unsuccessfully in court."
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