Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre, Iași

The Vasile Alecsandri National Theatre stands at 18 Strada Agatha Bârsescu in the centre of Iași, close to the Metropolitan Cathedral. The institution dates from 18 March 1840, when the government brought the Romanian and French companies under a single administration and appointed Costache Negruzzi, Mihail Kogălniceanu and Vasile Alecsandri as directors, with the company assembled by Costache Caragiali. From 1846 the theatre performed in the Great Theatre at Copou, which was destroyed by fire on the night of 17 to 18 February 1888. The present building was raised on the site of the old city hall to designs by the Viennese architects Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, who were approached in 1892. Construction began in 1894, and the theatre was inaugurated on 1 December 1896, when the keys were handed to Mayor Nicolae Gane. A dedicated power plant was built together with the theatre, and on the opening night it supplied the first arc lamps in the theatre square, the beginning of electric lighting in Iași. In 1956 the institution was named after Vasile Alecsandri (1821-1890). The exterior has a classical portico with Ionic columns and high-relief sculpture. The main auditorium, decorated in Rococo style, seats 740 in the stalls, boxes and balcony and is lit by a Venetian crystal chandelier with 109 bulbs. The original painted curtain, made by the Viennese painter Maximilian Lenz and finished by one of his pupils, shows an allegory of life with its three ages and, on the right, the Union of the Romanian Principalities. The ceiling, with paradisiacal allegories, nymphs and angels, and the iron safety curtain are the work of the Austrian painter Alexander Goltz. The building was strengthened and restored between 2006 and 30 April 2012, and the main auditorium reopened on 5 October 2012. Besides the main hall, the theatre uses the Teofil Vâlcu Studio Hall, the Teatru la Cub hall and the Uzina cu Teatru hall, set up in the former power plant. The building also houses the Romanian National Opera of Iași and is a class A historic monument, LMI code IS-II-a-A-03735.