The Amazonas Theater will receive R$ 2.3 million from the federal government for security measures and building maintenance

The funds come from the Ministry of Justice's Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights (FDD). This is the biggest public investment in the theater in the last 20 years.

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Opened in 1896, the Amazonas Theaterthe first Brazilian heritage site in the state of Amazonas, will receive investments for its conservation. There will be R$ 2.3 million for security measures and building maintenance. The resources are from the Fund for the Defense of Diffuse Rights (FDD), the Ministry of Justice, from court convictions, fines and compensation to repair damage to the environment, the consumer, goods and rights of artistic value, aesthetic, historical, tourist and landscape.

According to the director of the Teatro Amazonas, Cândido Jeremias, this is the biggest investment in the place in the last two decades. He explains the importance of the financial contribution to keep the historic building safe. "It has been more than 20 years since a resource like this from the federal government was invested in the theater. And this will be mega, ultra-important for us. Mainly because the project provides for a firefighting system to make the theater 100% free of any harm, with an alarm, with an intelligent system. We will have an important inspection in the electrical overhaul, in the camera system. So, this project encompasses all the building's security and maintenance, which is very important", he says.

The National Historic and Artistic Heritage Institute (Iphan), linked to the Ministry of Citizenship, will launch a bidding process to select the companies that will execute the services of project elaboration and construction of the fire detection and combat systems, electrical installations and protection against atmospheric discharges. Besides the safety-oriented renovation, the curtain, also known as the Theater Drapery, will be restored. Painted in oil on fabric, the work of art pays homage to the meeting of the waters of the Negro and Solimões rivers.

The intervention in the Pano de Boca is budgeted at R$ 1.8 million - R$ 1.5 million from the Ministry of Citizenship and R$ 400 thousand from the Amazonas government. For the superintendent of Iphan in the state, Karla Bitar, the investments are necessary to safeguard one of the most important Brazilian theaters and one of the main opera houses in the world.

"Besides the building having this exceptional artistic value, its architecture, its eclectic style, which is characteristic of the rubber period we had in Amazonas and also in Pará, it represents a time when a society sought inspiration in a European setting and wanted a city with a beautification from monumental references like this. And, obviously, it was a society that was very fond of culture and art", Karla relates.

Amazon Opera Festival

The Amazonas Theater is one of the most active in the national lyrical scene. Every year it hosts the Amazonas Opera Festival, which since 2000 has raised R$ 8.3 million through the Federal Law for Cultural Incentive. The assistant conductor of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra, Marcelo de Jesus, relates the emotion of going on stage at the manauara theater at each performance. "It is a jewel. And the feeling is the same, when we enter here, we are in a temple and, really, it is a feeling of gratitude, even, that we can do our work, with a very well consolidated structure, with an audience that honors us. So, it is a great happiness and pride", he declared.

Every year, the Amazonas Theater registers an increase in the number of visitors. According to data from the Amazonas Secretary of Culture, until August 2019, 73,884 people were in the historic building, a growth of about 11.7% compared to the same period last year.

With information from the Ministry of Citizenship