The coloured dome
36,000 tiles in flag colours.
Karine Hermes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ridiculopathy — CC0 · Ednei Fialho Lopes — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Rezendevaleria — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ridiculopathy — CC0
The Amazon Theatre is an opera house in the heart of Manaus, a city in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, built at the height of the rubber boom, when Manaus was one of the richest cities in the world. Proposed in 1881, begun in 1884 and stalled for years, it opened on 31 December 1896, and its first performance, on 7 January 1897, was the Italian opera La Gioconda. In July 2026 UNESCO inscribed it as a World Heritage Site together with the Teatro da Paz in Belém. Its materials came from Europe: roof tiles from Alsace, steel walls from Glasgow and marble from Carrara in Italy. The dome is covered with 36,000 ceramic tiles in the colours of the Brazilian flag, and the auditorium seats 701 on tiers of gilded boxes. It hosts the Amazonas Opera Festival every year and is the home of the Amazonas Philharmonic Orchestra. Guided visits run every 45 minutes in Portuguese, English and Spanish, with no booking needed, taking in the auditorium and the ballroom with its wooden floor and painted ceiling. With time, come to an evening concert; many are free or cheap.
36,000 tiles in flag colours.
701 seats and boxes.
Painted ceiling, wooden floor.
Largo de São Sebastião, central Manaus
No. Guided visits start every 45 minutes without booking, in Portuguese, English and Spanish, for R$20.
