Teatro El Círculo

Planned as a lyric theater, it was developed as Teatro La Ópera by Emilio O. Schiffner, who purchased the society of the same name in 1889.

Schiffner contracted German engineer George Goldammer, an acoustician who modified the original design, and the construction firm of Bianchi, Vila y Compañía.

Italian artists, directed by Luggi Levoni, decorated both the interiors and exteriors; among their notable creations was the stage curtain designed by Giuseppe Carmignani with images from Greek mythology similar to those found in the Teatro Regio di Parma.

The abandoned catacombs underneath the theatre were converted into the Museum of Sacred Art in 1940 to house the prolific work of sculptor Eduardo Barnes.

The sidewalks and the two streets around the corner of the theater were turned into a sort of plaza with an early 20th-century look, using old lampposts and replacing the usual asphalted surface with cobblestones.