The Mihai Eminescu Theater (Teatrul Mihai Eminescu) is the main dramatic theater in Botoșani, housed in a landmark building completed in 1914 to designs by architect Grigore Cerchez. Named after poet Mihai Eminescu, the theater was created as a permanent home for a theatrical tradition that had already been developing in the city for much of the 19th century.
A joint-stock company was formed in 1912 to finance and build the theater, bringing together dozens of local shareholders. The foundation stone was laid on September 23 that year, and construction was completed in just over two years. Cerchez designed the building in an elaborate French-influenced eclectic style, with a richly decorated façade and an auditorium arranged with multiple tiers of balconies. It opened on December 21, 1914 with a performance of Lorica noastră by the National Theater of Bucharest.
The building was badly damaged during an air raid on April 8, 1944. Reconstruction between 1956 and 1958, directed by architect Leon Srulovici, substantially altered the original design, and the theater reopened in September 1958. Its own permanent acting company began its first season the following month, establishing the institution in the form that continued through the second half of the 20th century.
A major restoration begun in the 2010s eventually reversed many of the later alterations and recovered elements of the theater’s 1914 appearance. The façades and interiors were restored, the structure strengthened and the stage facilities modernized, before the building reopened to the public on December 21, 2024, exactly 110 years after its original inauguration.
