"The ornate Italianate structure was 1908 with Verdi's Aida. It has hosted the likes of Maria Callas, Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Igor Stravinsky, Enrico Caruso, and Luciano Pavarotti, who has said that the Colón has only one flaw: the acoustics are so good, every mistake can be heard.

The theater's sumptuous building materials -- three kinds of Italian marble, French stained glass, and Venetian mosaics -- were imported from Europe to create large-scale lavishness.

The seven-tier main theater is breathtaking in size, and has a grand central chandelier with 700 lights to illuminate the 3,000 mere mortals in its red-velvet seats." Teatro Colón.