Tivoli BBVA, a dream Theater in the heart of Avenida

Tivoli BBVA, a dream Theater in the heart of Avenida

Architect Raúl Lino draw the theatre in neoclassic style

Frederico de Lima Mayer, an important Portuguese businessman in the early 20th century, was a highly educated and a well-traveled man. He was a great fan of the seventh art, cinema, which at the time was beginning to gain a place in people’s interests, so Frederico de Lima Mayer was eager to build a cinema in the middle of Avenida da Liberdade.

Influenced by the European culture of that time, he invited Raúl Lino, one of the most famous and award-winning architects, to design the building in the Neoclassical style, inspired by the great buildings in Paris that stand out richly crafted façade, lines and shapes of great architectural personality.

He introduced it to Lisbon society and to the world on November 30, 1924 using  four roses. There were four roses, one for each daughter: Ana, Rita, Helena and Maria. These four roses made up – and still make up today – the bouquet that is the symbol of the Cineteatro Tivoli. For the premiere, which was a gala, the film Imperial Violets was chosen, still in black and white and silent.

There are several theories about the name TIVOLI but the most likely is the connection to the Tivoli town on the outskirts of Rome where, in the 16th century, the lush gardens and palace of Villa d’Este were built. Since then, the name Tivoli has been attributed to countless gardens and noble places and, at the dawn of the twentieth century, the name has reached theaters all over Europe.Since its opening, CINE-TEATRO TIVOLI has been a phenomenon of popularity, especially among the wealthier classes. The space added to Avenida da Liberdade – heir to the ancestral Passeio Público – the glamorous aura of a Parisian boulevard, a social place of excellence, elitist, beautiful and necessarily expensive. The modern and avant-garde programing, as well as the technological excellence – sound cinema arrived as early as 1930 – contributed to making Tivoli one of the favorite places for the Portuguese public and especially for the high society in Lisbon, which, until then, considered it bad taste to go to the cinema.Each opening night was an event in the city and the Tea Room, called Salão Nobre, located in the prime hall, was the place where Lisbon’s elite met during the afternoon, celebrated Carnival and paraded the best looks in glamorous and crowded parties end-of-year. Any reason served as an excuse for the cream of society to be at Tivoli, and many businesses were done and developed in the building. After the reopening in 2012, already under the management of UAU, a partnership was established with JNCQUOI, which has maintained the space since 2017. Always noble and focused on the elites, it not only welcomes Portuguese but more and more international clients.

For the love of art since silent movies

The debut film on November 30, 1924, was Imperial Violets, by Henri Roussell and Raquel Meller. At the time, the cinema was silent, so the exhibition was accompanied by a string sextet conducted by violinist Nicolino Milano. The following year, in 1925, the theater gained prominence with the founding of the company Teatro Novo, directed by António Ferro. In the same year, the first presentation of a Portuguese film took place, Os Olhos da Alma, by Virgínia de Castro and Almeida by Roger Lion.

Throughout the 1930s there was a need to purchase sound equipment and on November 5, 1930, the first film with sound premiered, The Love Parade, with Maurice Chevalier and Jeanette MacDonald. In 1934 the first Portuguese sound film, Gado Bravo, by António Lopes Ribeiro was released. The silver anniversary is then celebrated in 1949, with a show that brought together the Portuguese Ballets, the Fado by Amália Rodrigues (where the theme O Fado by Eugénia Câmara premiered, with music by Raúl Ferrão and lyrics by Pereira Coelho) and the Orchestra Tavares Beautiful. In the 50’s the Theater was in need of improvement works to renovate some areas, such as widening the stage, the cinema projection booth and the basement. Works were carried out once again by Raúl Lino and, in 1959, Ben-Hur was released as the first film in a cinemascope system. 1966 was marked by The Sound of Music, and the movie kept the record for being in display for ten months in a row, followed by more financially complicated years.

Between the 70s and 90s, the Tivoli Theater had several owners, among them João Ildefonso Bordallo and Emiliano Revilla. During these decades there were some demolition interventions that aimed the transformation of the building into a hotel. These works stopped when, in 1997, Tivoli was classified as a Property of Public Interest and couldn´t be demolished. It reopened in 1999, as the stage for several television programs, advertising spots and occasional shows. At the end of 2011, UAU, a show production company, acquired Tivoli with the aim of recovering, managing and returning it to Lisbon residents. It is the only private Portuguese theater classified as a Public Interest monument since 2015 and was the first Portuguese theater to be named by a corporate company, with the support of BBVA bank. Innovative again, the now Teatro Tivoli BBVA took on a new life and never stopped. The typology of the theater is the opposite scene of the Italian influence, consisting of an audience, friezes, boxes, 1st and 2nd balconies, a stage that is 24.70m wide by 11m deep. Its stage mouth is 13.55m wide by 6.95m high.

Nowadays, its current capacity is 1149 spectators and regards to the decoration in the room we note that the wealth of details decreases as you go up, being practically nonexistent at the level of the 2nd counter, reserved for the lower classes.

Since 2013, this room has been subject to restoration. We emphasize that the wooden floor is original and the carpets that covered it for decades have been removed. The chair covers were also restored, recovering their original tone. Studies have made it possible to identify the original colors of the walls, a work still in process.

In other areas of the theatre, new dressing rooms were built, equipped with the necessary functionalities and comfort – a rehearsal room, laundry room, new sanitary facilities for public use and office areas. New technical and stage equipment has been acquired in order to be capable of meeting the requirements of any type of show or event. This restoration and modernization required, and requires daily, an increased financial effort to generate the necessary revenues since these costs, totaling 3 million euros, were assumed by UAU, owner of the space, which was supported only by some companies and entities and cannot compete for the Patronage Law.

There is also the Attic, a new area, completely rebuilt from the old storage. With a  wide configuration, it has a capacity for 200 to 300 people in small flying or seated events. It is prepared for multimedia presentations and smaller theater or music shows. It has a bar that provides cafeteria service on show days. It is perfect for cocktails or product launch events. As a background, the old projection room, a museum center that keeps the memory of the genesis of our Cine Teatro Tivoli.