The Teatro São João’s over two centuries long history begins with the old Real Teatro, of which the new Teatro São João is the successor and heir. Often described as the “city’s first theatre”, it was the pride and joy of Porto high society until a fire destroyed it in the night between 11 and 12 April 1908. The round table discussion that evokes it was set in motion by the book O Velho Teatro de S. João (1798-1908): Teatro e Música no Porto do Longo Século XIX, published by the Centro de Estudos de Sociologia e Estética Musical – NOVA FCSH, with the support of the Teatro Nacional São João. The book’s organisers, Luísa Cymbron and Ana Isabel Vasconcelos, join a debate with architect Luís Soares Carneiro and professors José Camões (School of Arts, Universidade de Lisboa) and Pedro Couto Soares (Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa). This set of transdisciplinary looks at aspects of the life of the Real Teatro, as well as of the arts that enlivened it, from opera to dance, from concerts to plays, is aimed at rekindling the flame of the legacy of a theatre that not only “civilised the city” but also played an instrumental role in its urban planning.