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| HOME / TOP 10 ATTRACTIONS OF MOSCOW / BOLSHOY THEATER |
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Since its foundation towards the end of the 18th century, Moscow's celebrated Bolshoy Theater has experienced a turbulent and dramatic history. The forerunner of today's theater was Prince P.V. Urussov's Opera and Ballet Theater, commissioned by Catherine the Great in 1776 and financially backed by the Englishman Michael Maddox. The first of many disasters struck the theatre in 1805 when fire gutted the building, leaving it beyond repair and Maddox completely penniless.
Just 7 years later fire raged through Moscow and destroyed the entire city. In 1824, as part of the reconstruction of the Russian capital, the architect Andrei Mikhailov designed a new, much larger Bolshoy Theater, which was to be situated on the newly planned Theater Square. The renowned St. Petersburg architect, Osip Bove, was also amongst the many architects drafted in to supervise the rebuilding of Moscow. Calamity struck again in 1853 when the apparently cursed theater caught fire once more, although the building fared slightly better this time and the outer walls remained intact. In 1853 Albert Cavos, designer of St. Petersburg's magnificent Mariinsky Theater and an expert in accoustics, rebuilt the Bolshoy Theatre for the last time and today it is deemed one of the largest theaters in Europe, seating up to 3,000 people.
During the Soviet takeover the theater was used on various occasions for political meetings, including the famous First All Union Congress of Soviets held on December 30th 1922, which officially acknowledged the birth of the Soviet Union. Not long after that, the theater was reopened for public performances and its reputation and repertoire has continued to grow and gather international acclaim ever since. The Bolshoy has had the honor of hosting the premieres of many operatic and ballet works by the famous Russian composers Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Aram Khachaturyan, who wrote the spectacularly successful ballet hit of the 1960's, "Spartacus".
A trip to see one of the Bolshoy Theater's world-class opera or ballet performances is an absolute must on your next visit to Moscow. |
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