Teatre Grec

Despite appearances, it is not actually Greek!

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Red Route

Fundació Joan Miró stop

In spite of its name, this open-air theatre is not Greek, but the result of transforming an old quarry. The main site of the Grec Festival of Barcelona, which each summer fills the city with theatre, music, dance and the circus, the Teatre Grec, inaugurated in 1929, is a stone stage, dug out of Montjuïc Mountain with a capacity for 1,900 spectators.

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Why visit the Teatre Grec?

The Teatre Grec is the perfect place to enjoy an open-air performance on a summer night in Barcelona. Contrary to what you may think, it is not a theatre from the ancient Greek period, rather its history starts with the 1929 International Exposition.

The architects Ramon Reventós and Nicolau Maria Rubió i Tudurí came up with the idea of using an old quarry to build a theatre stage inspired by the Ancient Theatre of Epidaurus in the Peloponnese, where the carved stone wall served as the stage. So, taking advantage of the mountain’s slope and the remains of the quarry, the architects equipped Barcelona with an extremely special stage that lends its name to the Grec Festival that each summer schedules plays, concerts, dance and circus performances at various theatres and cultural spaces in Barcelona.

In addition to the theatre, it is also home to impressive gardens designed in the early 20th century by the French architect Jean-Claude Forestier, known as the Amargós Rose Gardens. They were remodelled in 2008 by Patrizia Falcone to recover their original appearance, which is marked by the geometry of the flower beds, pergolas, ponds and flowers that extend over the rectangular terrace.

How do you get to Teatre Grec?

On the Red Route of Barcelona Bus Turístic hop off at the Fundació Joan Miró stop and the theatre is behind the foundation’s building.

For the most curious of you:

Did you know? Teatre Grec was created thanks to a stroll that the French architect Jean-Claude Forestier took in 1921 near to a Montjuïc quarry. ‘A good place for a Greek theatre’, the site seemed to say to him. Some years later his prophetic observation came true.