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Origin and history

Tarascon's municipal theatre originated in a chapel dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, built by Dominican preaching brothers in the 14th century in the Saint-Nicolas district. This chapel, rebuilt into a Gothic church and consecrated in 1499, became a national good during the French Revolution, then a hay store under the First Republic. In 1825 King Charles X approved his acquisition by the commune to make it a theatre, inaugurated in 1828 after work started in 1826.

A fire completely destroyed the building in 1884. The municipality then decided to rebuild it as an Italian theatre, entrusting the plans to Joseph Marius Letz, chief architect of Bouches-du-Rhône and collaborator of Charles Garnier. The works, carried out from 1887 to 1888 with the participation of the entrepreneur Auguste Tissier and the Apy-Portal house for the decorations, culminated in an inauguration in 1888 with Le Barbier de Seville de Rossini. In 1898, a pediment carved by Jean-Barnabé Amy adorns the facade.

Closed in 1963 due to deterioration, the theatre was listed for historical monuments in 1980. After safeguard work started in 1985, it reopened in 1989. A new restoration campaign, led by the DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, takes place from 2019 to 2023. The municipality remains the owner and manages it directly, without delegation of public service.

The room, with a capacity of 360 seats distributed in orchestra and three balconies, has a Latin inscription of Virgile above the curtain: "Deus nobis haec otia fecit" ("A god has done these leisures for us"). This theatre testifies to the reuse of a religious heritage in a cultural space, typical of the 19th century.

The ancient Dominican church, integrated into the monument, retains remains of its first vocation. Its evolution reflects the urban and cultural transformations of Tarascon, marked by the adaptation of historic buildings to modern needs, while preserving their architectural heritage.

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