A projection display apparatus includes: a display element that displays an image; a lamp that illuminates the display element to cause the display element to emit an image light; a variable light intensity element that allows the light emitted from the lamp to pass therethrough, the intensity of light passing through the variable light intensity element being variable; and a light intensity controller that determines whether the display element is at an image mute state in which a full-black image is displayed, or at a normal lighting state other than the image mute state, and when the display element is at the image mute state, reduces the amount of power supplied to the lamp to a level that is lower than that of the normal lighting state to decrease the intensity of light emitted from the lamp, and also decreases the intensity of light that passes through the variable light intensity element.