Manaus is the big metropolis in the middle of the Amazon Jungle, far from any other cities and hard to reach except by river or by air. In its heyday, it was a wealthy city due to the rubber tree industry. The wealthy rubber barons still wanted the luxuries of Europe, so they had an opera house designed to be similar to the great opera house of Paris, France. Eurpean marksmanship and materials were used to construct the building and its opulent interior. It remains a beautiful theater and is still used for frequent performances today, standing proudly as the symbol of Manaus.