Teatro São Carlos

Portugal's principal opera house, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos has graced Lisbon's Chiado district since 1793, its neoclassical exterior giving way to an intimate Italian-style horseshoe auditorium of remarkable beauty. Built in the wake of the 1755 earthquake that destroyed the earlier Opera do Tejo, São Carlos was modeled after the San Carlo in Naples and La Scala in Milan. The theater presents a season of opera and ballet that draws leading international artists to its stage. As Lisbon's cultural life has flourished, São Carlos has reclaimed its position as one of the Iberian Peninsula's most distinguished lyric theaters.