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Located between the streets of Rec Condal 20, Puerta Nueva 5, the Triunfo theater was built inside what had been the enclosure where the old Jaume I wall was located, 20 meters from the old Víctor Pradera Hall, current Paseo de Lluis Companys and the Palace of Justice.
Its owner, Miguel Junca, hired Manuel Joaquin Raspall i Mayol for its construction, who in 1905 had erected the old Comic Theater. It had a capacity of 628 spectators.
It was inaugurated as a theater on August 1, 1908, according to La Vanguardia of that day on page 9, with the debut of the zarzuela company led by Emilio Huervas and the maestros Sabater and Coto, with a double section: La rabalera y Carmela y In the evening, La reina mora and the premiere of the Catalan zarzuela by Ignacio Iglesias, Flor Tardana. It advertised cafeteria and restaurant services and pointed out that there was a tram stop in front of the theatre.
Being the only venue for shows in the neighborhood, it quickly became widely accepted in the area, since at that time there were no venues of this type in this part of Barcelona.
It was not until Sunday, April 15, 1923, that the Princesa cinema was inaugurated on Vía Layetana and, later, in the postwar period, the Manila cinema, in 1939, in Baja de San Pedro.
The first dalliances with the cinema were carried out on the occasion of the Christmas holidays. On Monday, December 21 of the same year, he announced at six in the afternoon a Vermouth section, a film special showing El tirador de palomas and El morrongo. Although he continued to represent zarzuelas, every night after the theater performances were over, he did short film sessions.
At the beginning of January the film projections disappeared and an artistic performance was established, with the presentation of Las Argentinas.
On Monday, January 25, it changed again to theater performances with the comic play La Carcajada. On Sunday the 31st it took a new turn, announcing the first masquerade ball for Monday February 1st on the occasion of the arrival of carnivals.
After spending some time without appearing on the billboards, it reappeared on Sunday, April 3, 1910, turned into movies and varieties, programming with the Cine Vicens company on Tallers street and the performance of the Jongleurs (minstrels) The Roles, the dancers Las from Madrid, Tommy and Garten and the ventriloquist Bedano.
He soon became infected with the advertisements (which in those days were made by most of the cinemas), announcing the films by the metre. On Saturday, February 10, 1912, he announced three thousand meters of films, all premieres.
Today Saturday, great program. Success of the two Nordisk and Vitagraph tapes: Inmates 10 and 13, 1,000 meters; Memory of the past, 600 meters.
On Saturday, September 7, 1912, the general assembly of railway workers was held. To enter, a commission at the door required the presentation of the identity card, in order to verify if they were from the Catalan section, the only ones who had the right to take part in the meeting.
After the proclamation of the Republic, the premises became the headquarters for all the rallies in the neighborhood and it was strange the week that an act was not held, given the large number of unions at the time.
On Friday, September 15, 1932, after a reform in which the sound equipment was also updated, the new distribution company Triunfo was inaugurated, which also included the Marina cinema, both with different programming.
On Saturday, October 29, 1934, as a result of a complaint, he published this note in La Vanguardia.
Requested note: Having appeared in the Barcelona newspapers, contradictory news about a complaint that a gentleman has filed against certain individuals, from Concentración Española, notes that it has nothing to do with the individual who has filed said complaint, it being equally uncertain that money was collected at the Teatro del Triunfo, since the affiliates of the Concentración Española party who attended the event could not give money to any other group.
During the civil war, after being collectivized by the CNT, I continue to program together with the Marina cinema, although this time showing the same films.
It was used in times of the Republic and the civil war by trade unions and political organizations to hold rallies and protest rallies by the unions, since it was in a neighborhood with a very significant demographic and worker density.
After the war ended, with the prohibition by the dictatorship of trade union rallies and acts outside the regime, and with the opening of new, more modern and comfortable cinemas, El Triunfo lost market share, although it still retained older people as customers. from the neighborhood
It looked like a big fairground booth. As of the 1930s, it had forgotten about the theater to become a movie theater. After the Civil War, it was definitively consolidated as a Triunfo cinema, programming re-runs in double bills.
In March 1948, the businessman Eduardo Vilaseca López took over the cinema until 1967, when Joan Parera Solá took over to try to revive it. But the place was deteriorating little by little, until it closed its doors on Sunday, January 28, 1973, with the projection of the films I am always alone and El Santo contra los marcianos.
Later, it was demolished and a residential building was built on the site.
