Behind a sober façade lies a horseshoe-shaped auditorium with stalls and three tiers of boxes, designed for excellent acoustics. It hosts concerts, dance, theater and Paraguayan music throughout the year. The restoration preserved fragments of the original building and added a café and smaller halls for performances and workshops. Catching a show is the best way to see it — and to experience downtown's cultural life after dark.

It was born in 1855, when Carlos Antonio López converted the old Congress chamber into a theater, following plans by Spanish playwright Ildefonso Antonio Bermejo; it opened on November 4 of that year. Catalan businessman Baudilio Alió built the Teatro Nacional, inaugurated on July 21, 1889. The City took it over in 1939, and since 1949 it has borne the name of intellectual Ignacio A. Pane. Closed in 1995 due to deterioration, it was restored between 2004 and 2005.