Starting next month, the ownership of the Spanish Cervantes Theater in Tangier “Gran Teatro Cervantes” will be transferred to Morocco.
This announcement was published in the Spanish Official Bulletin on Saturday, Feb.11, 2023.
The Spanish lower house decided, in Jul. 2020, to irrevocably donate this theater to Morocco, thereby confirming the decision of the Spanish Council of Ministers taken in Feb. 2019.
Morocco is committed to pay the full cost of restoration, renovation, management, and maintenance, while respecting the original architecture of both the facade and the interior, and preserving the original design and name of the theater.
The Moroccan Agency for the North Promotion (APDN) has recently put out a tender for the building’s restoration.
The Cervantes Theater in Tangier was founded by a couple of immigrants from Cadiz in 1913 and became the largest stage in North Africa. It was designed by Spanish architect Diego Jiménez Armstrong, a native of Tangier, who had all the materials imported from Spain.