Cine Coliseum

One of central Barcelona’s historic cinemas, still operating as a single screen.

The Cine Coliseum opened on 10th October 1923 with Maurice Chevalier in “Innocents of Paris”. the original seating capacity was for 1,815. Nineteen firms were involved in its construction. The architect Francisco de Paula Nebot was inspired by the Paris Opera House in his design for the Coliseum. The interior designers were Fernandez Casals, Gonzalo Batlle and Torra Pasan. Decorative metalwork in the building was carried out by Torres Herrerias.

Seating is provided on three levels;orchestra, mezzanine and balcony and includes seating in 50 boxes around the auditorium. The boxes along the sides of the auditorium have elaborate metalwork on their fronts.

Initially independently operated it was taken over by Paramount Pictures and became their showcase cinema in Barcelona until 1939 when they relinqushed the lease. In 1937 the cinema had a narrow escape from serious damage when bombs from the Spanish Civil War exploded nearby.

The Coliseum came under the ownership of UFA films SA from 1939 and then from 1958 it was operated by the Balana chain.

It has always been a premier cinema in central Barcelona and today also presents occassional live shows as well as films.

Recent comments (view all 5 comments)

MagicLantern on August 20, 2005 at 3:40 am

This is a huge, gorgeous cinema right off Las Ramblas heading north on the way to Casa-Museu Gaudi. The marquee covers the breadth of the building outside and it looks very, very old. We were there in April and, while we never got the chance to see what was playing at the time, we knew that it would’ve been a total experience.

irishcine on December 27, 2006 at 6:07 am

An exterior view of the Coliseum Cinema is at

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Ken Roe on December 27, 2006 at 8:21 am

The Coliseum Cine opened in 1923 and was designed by architect F. de P. Nebot. The interior decoration in a Spanish Renaissance style was by J. de Casals.