When will Municipal Theatre finally reopen?
From December 2026 to summer 2027 – and who knows after that! The Municipal Theatre remains closed, the fire safety works have no confirmed start date, and the stage is flooding. When will it reopen, who is guaranteeing the timetable, and who is protecting the historic curtain?
Summer 2027 is emerging as the most likely timeframe for reopening. But even that remains uncertain, as long as the start of the crucial fire safety project has yet to be confirmed.
The Corfu Municipal Theatre has remained closed since 16 March. Initially, the municipal authority estimated that it could reopen by December 2026. The target was subsequently pushed back to the end of summer 2027. That means at least seventeen months without the island’s most important indoor venue for cultural events. And who knows how much longer.
The main fire safety project, with a budget of €550,000, was put out to tender in the summer. In September, the process of evaluating the bids was still under way. The contractual completion period is seven months from the date of signing. Without a confirmed date for the contract to be signed and the contractor to take possession of the site, how can any reopening forecast be considered reliable?
As if that were not enough, the latest photographs reveal water on the stage, despite the waterproofing work that had been announced. There are even documents certifying the receipt and satisfactory completion of work relating to expenditure of €9,500 on waterproofing materials. What exactly was delivered, and what repairs were carried out? Making the documents public would help answer that question, without resorting to unfounded accusations.
Meanwhile, the historic curtain of San Giacomo remains exposed in a building where water ingress has been observed. Protecting it cannot wait until the contract works are completed.
Corfu needs a concrete timetable, with contracts, dates and named individuals responsible. No more estimates that keep being pushed back from one season to the next. Because the issue is not simply when the theatre will reopen. It is also the condition in which the town will get it back when it finally does.
GIORGOS KATSAITIS
