Alhambra

About

The Alhambra or Alhambra Maurice-Chevalier is a Parisian music hall opened in 1904 at 50 rue de Malta in the 11th arrondissement and demolished in 1967. A new Alhambra was inaugurated in April 2008 at 21 Yves-Toudic Street (10th arr.), 300 metres from the old hall.

History: Inaugurated on August 11, 1866, the hall was first home to Cirque-Imperial, the former Cirque-Olympique, whose former hall had been destroyed — as many theatres on the "Blvd du Crime" — by Baron Haussmann in 1862 when the Place du Château-d'Eau, now Place de la République, was created. Its 5,000 seats make it the largest circus in Europe. Directed by Bastien Franconi, descendant of a long line of artists at Cirque-Olympique's creative fair, there are equestrian and patriotic performances. But their fashion was changed, and bankruptcy came the following year. After a unsuccessful first attempt by Hippolyte Hostein, former director of the Châtelet, under the name of the theatre of the Imperial Prince, the hall fell into the hands of Hippolyte Cogniard, director of Varieties, who acquired it in 1869 on behalf of his son Léon.