Bolshoi Theatre

The Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, Russia

The Bolshoi Theatre (Russian: Большой театр, Bol'shoy Teatr, Large Theater) is a world-famous theatre and opera company in Moscow, Russia, which gives performances of ballet and opera. It is in the centre of Moscow, near the Kremlin.

History of the building

The Bolshoi Theatre began in 1776 when Empress Catherina II allowed Prince Pyotr Urusov to run theatrical performances.^[1] That theatre burned down and a new one was built in 1825. After that one burned down too, it was rebuilt and reopened in 1856. After that, no important repairs were made to the building for 150 years. By the beginning of the 21st century it was in a very bad state and in danger of falling down. Major repairs were started in 2005, and the theatre was re-opened in 2011.

At the time of the Communist Revolution (1917), the Bolsheviks thought the theatre represented the old tsars and everything that had been bad in Russia. They wanted to demolish it. Then they started to use it for their meetings. Lenin and Stalin both gave speeches there. The operas that were performed had to be ones that did not criticize the Soviet Union in any way^[2]

Bolshoi Theatre Media

The old Bolshoi Theatre in the early 19th century
Bolshoi Theatre in 1883 after reconstruction by Alberto Cavos
Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow, Russia. 1905
- For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme.
The Bolshoi on a 1951 stamp
Bolshoi Theatre in 2006 before the renovation
The curtain of the Bolshoi Theater
Performance in the Bolshoi Theatre (1856)
Alexander III of Russia and his family at the Bolshoi, 1883
Auditorium of the Bolshoi Theatre in 2014