Teatru Manoel Lighting Valletta, Malta

By bob

Teatru Manoel Lighting

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bob

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Teatru Manoel is Malta’s National Theatre and a building of high historic importance in theatre architecture. Since 1731, and after several architectural changes, this theatre has been a living temple for performing arts, and is now one of the oldest working theatres in Europe.

In 2018 a project SSV provided theatre planning and seating consultancy to remodel the stalls and provide new seating in the stalls and boxes was completed. Following this project SSV were invited to lead a new project in 2020, to redesign the house lighting in the auditorium with the intent to have a more similar to the lighting that would have been installed when the Theatre opened in the 18^th century. This was facilitated by the down-time required by Covid-19 restrictions, making a valuable restoration project out of an unfortunate setback.

SSV researched the lighting of contemporaneous venues in the region and factored in critiques of the current house lighting. The result was a brighter design with a flattering angle of light of the faces of the audience seated in the boxes with Venetian style sconces and chandelier. The profile of the new chandelier is a longer and more elegant shape compared to the original. The glasswork detailed design, manufacture and installation was completed in 2021 by MM Chandelier Restorations Malta.