The Sá de Miranda Municipal Theater was inaugurated on April 29, 1885. In 2020, it was 135 years old.
Its construction was due to the effort of a group of Viennese personalities who formed, in 1879, the Companhia Fomentadora Vianense, with the objective of building “a civilizing building” for the city and the region.
The Viana do Castelo City Council acquired the building in 1985, at a time when its degradation was accentuated.
The Teatro do Noroeste – Centro Dramático de Viana was founded in 1991, with the support of the local authority and, since then, it has been granted the status of resident company of the Teatro Municipal Sá de Miranda, aiming at the recovery and revitalization of this magnificent centenary theater, as well as the qualification of the cultural offer of the city and the region, developed from its most emblematic cultural equipment.
Since then, the activity of the Teatro do Noroeste – CDV and the initiative of the Viana do Castelo City Council have promoted the improvement works, first, in 1993, providing security and convenience to the public and, in a second phase, on the threshold of the year 2000, providing the stage box with the most modern scenic equipment, which allows the most demanding shows to be put on stage.
In 2015, the Municipality of Viana do Castelo, with the participation of the Teatro do Noroeste – CDV, marked the 130 years of existence of the Municipal Theater Sá de Miranda, with an evocative session of its inauguration that contemplated a formal act that took place in the theater lobby, poetry reading, a visit to lesser-known spaces in the building and the exhibition of an original copy of the newspaper “A Aurora do Lima”, on April 29, 1885, showing the news of the opening of Teatro Municipal Sá de Miranda, in Viana do Castelo, the first building of its kind to be built in Alto Minho.
It is estimated that the Municipal Theater Sá de Miranda, located in Viana do Castelo, is the fifth oldest Portuguese theater in operation, still maintaining the original architecture of its construction.