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Origin and history

The Georges-Leygues Theatre in Villeneuve-sur-Lot was built between 1931 and 1935 to replace the Café de la Comédie, destroyed by a fire in 1905. After this event, the shows were given under the city hall. In 1914 Georges Leygues, then chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, proposed a project for a "People's House" that could accommodate 900 people, but it was never realized.

In 1927 Georges Leygues offered to finance the construction of a new theatre if the municipality found a location. The site of the former prison, built in 1861 on the boulevard de la République, was chosen. The architect Guillaume Tronchet, a native of Villeneuve-sur-Lot and author of the Ducourneau theatre of Agen, was responsible for the project. He designed an Art Deco-style reinforced concrete building with a facade decorated with a Corinthian colonnade and sculptures depicting Comedy, Tragedy and Music, made by the brothers Jean and Joël Martel.

The works were carried out by Henri Corne de Villeneuve-sur-Lot, under the supervision of Gaston Rapin, a communal architect. The theatre was inaugurated on 28 September 1935 with the creation of the play La Fin du monde by Sacha Guitry. In 2008, he was listed as a historical monument, recognizing its architectural and cultural value.

The theatre is distinguished by its main stairway with divergent climbs and its rotating secondary stairways. Its interior layout follows a tripartite distribution, with an Italian-style room framed with galleries and service parts. The exterior walls are made of brick and stone, while the supporting structure uses reinforced concrete, typical of the buildings of this time.

This monument illustrates Georges Leygues' commitment to culture and the influence of Art Deco in public architecture of the 1930s. Today, it remains a central place in the cultural life of Villeneuve-sur-Lot, perpetuating its original vocation as a municipal theatre.

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