Giovanni Scudieri, called Antonio in the infobox, designed the original theater, with foundations laid on April 15, 1847. It opened on April 12, 1851 as a masked ball and charity fundraiser, because the stage was not finished. The land was granted free on condition that the theater belong to the city.
Fire destroyed it on October 11, 1874 before a performance of Norma, and accusations of arson followed because firefighters were slow to respond. Viktor Schröter, a Baltic German architect, won the competition for the rebuild, and it reopened in 1896. The style is Moorish Revival, with Oriental decoration over the layout, foyers and main hall of a typical European opera house.
The chandelier weighs 2,685 pounds (1,218 kg) and was shipped in 12 crates and moved by buffalo from the Black Sea coast. The theater was renamed after Zacharia Paliashvili in 1937. A restoration ended in January 2016 at about $40 million.
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