Gran Teatro Cervantes, Tangier

The Gran Teatro Cervantes stands on Rue Salah Eddine el-Ayoubi in Tangier, northern Morocco, as one of the most striking relics of the city's Spanish presence. It was built between 1911 and 1913 for the large Spanish community of Tangier, during the years when the city was a cosmopolitan hub on the Strait of Gibraltar and just before it became an international zone. It was designed by the Spanish architects Diego Jimenez Quilez and Manuel Pena Rodriguez and opened in 1913. The theatre was conceived as a major house for opera, zarzuela, theatre and music hall, and it seated well over a thousand people. Its facade mixes Spanish Baroque and Moorish decorative motifs with a Neo-Mudejar flavour, with ornamented balconies, a crowning pediment and tiled details. Inside, the horseshoe-shaped hall had tiers of boxes, a decorated ceiling and a stage with a full fly tower. For decades it hosted touring companies, flamenco, films and concerts. Use declined from the 1970s, after the Spanish community shrank and the building was closed, and the theatre was left to deteriorate. Ownership has been tied to the Spanish state, and Spanish and Moroccan authorities have discussed restoration plans for many years, so it remains largely a shuttered monument. The interior is not open for regular visits, but the exterior can be admired from the street, and its state of repair is poor, with weathered plaster and damaged ornament. Visitors can combine a stop here with nearby heritage buildings from Tangier's international era.