The Dona Maria II National Theatre stands on the north side of Rossio Square in central Lisbon. It was built from 1842 to 1846 and designed by the Italian architect Fortunato Lodi. It is dedicated to Queen Mary II of Portugal. The site was formerly the Estaus Palace, built around 1450, which later housed the Inquisition in the sixteenth century. The palace survived the 1755 earthquake and was destroyed by fire in 1836.
The style is Neoclassical with Palladian influence. The facade has a portico of six Ionic columns reused from the Saint Francis Convent. A relief of Apollo and the Muses decorates the pediment, and a statue of the playwright Gil Vicente stands on top.
A fire in 1964 destroyed much of the nineteenth-century decoration. The theatre reopened in 1978 after full renovation, and it became a national monument in 2003.
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