It had been showing ailments for a long time and it was not very operative for the theater workers. Its leaves could not be folded properly and the difficulties to introduce large materials to the stage multiplied. For this reason, the Architecture Conservation Service of the Zaragoza City Council has given the go-ahead to the replacement of the so-called ‘stage door’ of the Teatro Principal, which overlooks the Plaza de José Sinués and will be changed over the next month with a budget of around 18,000 euros.
The new door, yes, will have to preserve the charm of the veteran, given that the complex is protected by Heritage. The old entrance was one of the closures that the architect Ricardo Magdalena contributed to the north facade of the theater at the end of the 19th century. The door fits in perfectly with its classic ornamental elements, in a composition of white painted plastered brick, which had hardly been restored since 1987.
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“This one point and followed by the improvement work of a building that is 223 years old”José María Turmo, manager of the Board of Performing Arts, said yesterday, while explaining that the door itself and an upper leaf, which is shaped like a semicircular point, will be changed. The set is 2.60 meters high, but the upper part of the stage door, the semi-arch, could not be lowered and that forced the technicians to make a bobbin lace to fit the large props. “The operators of the theater complained about not being able to use all the space of the door and with these works we will facilitate the access of direct material to the sceneTurmo said.
“Its current opening makes its use very complex, in addition to dangers,” points out the memory of the works published by the Urban Planning Department. “To this we must add the poor state of conservation of the access ramp,” says the report, which also claims that this stone floor is changed for another also made of stone but “bush hammered, identical to those of the main access of Coso street”. The works, sponsored by the architecture services of the City Council (they bear the signatures of the architects Sergio Sebastián and José Antonio Aranaz), have just been put out to tender through a minor contract that should be resolved on June 1. The works only refer to the north façade and in no way compromise the main entrance of the building, the brick one that overlooks Coso Street, dating from the 1940s and the work of the Borobio brothers.
“Everything will be done respecting the values and the original aspects of the element because the theater is a Well of Cultural Interest since April 21, 2008”, point municipal sources. Although restoration and cleaning work was recently carried out on that north façade, the door had hardly been renovated since 1799, the date on which the theater was opened, initially designed by Vicente Martínez. The building, the work of Agustín Sanz and Agustín Gracián, has undergone numerous transformations and interventions since its inception, both on the façades and inside. Over the years there have been interventions by José de Yarza, Ricardo Magdalena, Regino Borobio or even José Manuel Pérez Latorre.
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“What is going to change is the upper opening system, which causes so many problems. The new one will be simpler and will locate a rectangular sheet although visually the arched figure of the hollow of the facade will continue to be perceived”, explain the experts.
An indisputable condition is that the new door has to be made of solid sheets of Flanders pine wood, with eight quarters per sheet, and will be lacquered in white, similar to the one to be retired, whose fate is still unclear. It is possible that it becomes part of the municipal warehouses or that it ends up in a “treatment point”. Of course, the new closure will have panic lock and safety hingesapart from the need to do some revision of masonry and painting after its placement.
The contract published by the City Council also requires that the door replacement work, which will last approximately one month, “do not hinder the normal and correct functioning of the building”so that during all the time the theater will be active and the programming will not be altered.
Last November, some ambitious works were already undertaken to renew the external appearance of the Teatro Principal, to which up to 300,000 euros were allocated. After undertaking the cleaning and rehabilitation works on its main façades, the eight statues of the allegories of the muses were consolidated on its roof. The roof was also revised – due to small detachments detected after an inspection – and a new lighting system was installed. The tasks focused on the facades that overlook the Coso, Blasco street and José Sinués square, but the replacement of this door was pending, whose execution has just been put out to tender.
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