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Teatre Circo Apolo

Located in Barcelona

The Spanish section of theatre architecture presents the Circo Apolo Theatre of Vilanova i la Geltrú this season.

Vilanova i La Geltrú is a town on the Mediterranean coast close to Barcelona. In the 19th century it was known as "La Havana Xica" (Little Havana) for the happy atmosphere of the town which was likened to that which supposedly existed in Cuba, the name also referred to its public gardens with their theatre and performance venues. The theatre environment in Vilanova generated a certain kind of theatrical organisation, the backbone of which followed the line of the Rambla.

The Apolo Theatre. Historical Notes

1878. The Marquis of Samà bought the gardens in front of the hospital and opened the “Gardens of Apollo” to the public, with a dancing area within the garden precinct.

1884. The area was ceded to the hospital and a roof was built for the dancing area and a café was also constructed.

1898. Opera performances were held on a temporary stage.

1899. On the 20th of May the Apolo Theatre was inaugurated with material from a previously-existing theatre - the Tívoli.

1907. The first cinema sessions were held in the Apolo.

1949. Dances were organised by the Fomento Vilanovés local promotional organisation. After this time the theatre was used exclusively as a cinema.

Deterioration

In 1988 Jean Guy Lecat, observed the progressive deterioration of this theatre, yet its originality and quality seduced us from the first time we set eyes upon it, and we believed there were good reasons for saving it. In 2004 Vilanova Town Council asked us to make a report in the possibilities of re-opening the theatre. In the report we evaluated the value of a place where the past, as on the faces of the ancients, had left the traces of time. We delivered our report in December. A month later the theatre was in flames, an "accident" finally put an end to its existence.

The case of the Apolo, and many other cases, presses the need to create an Observatory for Theatres at Risk. A collecting point for information on theatre spaces under threat.

Related links

Press news (02/02/2005) by El Punt/Laura Marín (in catalan)
Press news (03/02/2005) by El Punt/Laura Marín (in catalan)

Font: Vilanova Digital


Acknowledge

Arxiu Comarcal del Garraf
Diari de Vilanova
Fèlix Pascual & Jordi Lleó (photographers)
Jean Guy Lecat

EL TEATRE APOL·LO de Vilanova i la Geltrú (pdf 2,65MB) per Jean Guy Lecat - Antoni Ramon



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