Gare du Midi

The Gare du Midi was Biarritz's railway station until the line closed, and the town kept the building and put a theatre inside it. The 1980s conversion left the façade and gave the resort a hall of about fourteen hundred seats; since 1998 it has housed the Centre Chorégraphique National, and it is the main stage of Le Temps d'Aimer la Danse each September. Opera and orchestral touring share it with the dance companies. The building was renovated in 1991, retaining its Art Nouveau façade while acquiring modern auditoriums and technical facilities. Its two principal rooms, Atalaya and Gamaritz, accommodate large productions and smaller events respectively.