The Teatro Gran Mariscal Sucre, popularly known as the Teatro 3 de Febrero, was built between 1894 and 1898 in the European opera-house style — horseshoe auditorium, three tiers of boxes, ornate plasterwork ceilings, all in red velvet and gilt. It was funded by the Argandoña family at the height of Sucre's silver-driven prosperity and was meant to put the city on the same cultural footing as Buenos Aires or Lima.
The theatre still functions today. It hosts the annual International Festival of American Renaissance and Baroque Music (Festival Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana), the major Bolivian theatre productions on tour, and the city's own symphony orchestra. Even on a non-performance day, the box office staff are usually willing to let visitors take a quick peek inside the auditorium. The exterior, a restrained neoclassical facade, gives little hint of what is within.