Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

ST PETERSBURG 155

uncon trollable flooding from
the Neva, which made the
avenue navigable in 1721,
fine mansions, such as the
Stroganov Palace, soon started
to appear. Shops and bazaars,
catering for the nobility, and
inns for travelling merchants
followed. By the mid-18th
century the avenue had
become the place to meet for
gossip, business and pleasure.
Many of the city’s sights are
close to the stretch between
the Admiralty and Anichkov
Bridge. Some of the best
shops (see pp158–9) can be
found around Gostinyy dvor
and Passazh arcade. Nevskiy
prospekt also offers a wealth
of cultural interest: the Small
Philharmonia Concert Hall,
the Russian National Library,
Beloselskiy-Belozerskiy
Palace and a wide variety of
museums, theatres, churches,
including the Church of
St Catherine, shops, cinemas
and eateries.

View along the bustle of Nevskiy
prospekt, the hub of St Petersburg

THE BALLETS RUSSES

The legendary touring company that revolutionized ballet between

1909 and 1929 was the brainchild of the impresario and art critic

Sergey Diaghilev (1872–1929). His choreographer Mikhail Fokine

shared his vision of a spectacle that would fuse music, ballet and

decor in a seamless artistic whole. Diaghilev had the pick of the

dancers from Mariinskiy Theatre and, in 1909, he took his Ballets

Russes to Paris. His company had a remarkable impact on the

contem porary art world. The ballets of Fokine, in particular,

prepared audiences for greater innovation and experimentation.

Exciting contributions from costume and set designers Léon Bakst

and Alexandre Benois, the composer Igor Stravinsky and the

dancers Vaslaw Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova and Tamara Karsavina all

played a part in expanding artistic frontiers. After Diaghilev’s death

in 1929, the Ballets Russes fragmented, but its ethos and traditions

have been preserved in many of today’s leading companies.

An early 20th-century

Ballets Russes programme

Mariinskiy

Theatre u

Мариинский театр

Mariinskiy teatr

Teatralnaya ploshchad 1. Map B5.

Tel 326 4141. @ 3, 22, 27.  5,

22. & - = ^ http://www.mariinski.ru

Often still known

internationally by its Soviet

title, the Kirov, this theatre

was originally named after

Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna,

Alexander II’s wife, and has

now reverted to its first name.

Erected in 1860 by the archi-

tect who designed Moscow’s

Bolshoy Theatre, Albert Kavos,

it stands on the site of an ear-

lier theatre that was destroyed

by fire. Between 1883 and

1896, Viktor Schröter remo-

delled the Neo-Renaissance

façade and added most of the

ornamental detail. The pale

blue and gold audito rium,

where so many illustrious

dancers have made their

debuts, creates a dazzling

impression. Its architectural

decoration of twisted columns,

atlantes, cherubs and cameo

meda llions has remained

unchan ged since the theatre’s

completion, and the imperial

eagles have been restored to

the royal box. The ceiling

fresço of dancing girls and

cupids by Italian artist Enrico

Franchioli dates from c. 1856,

while the superb stage curtain

was added during Russian

ballet’s golden age in 1914.

Equally remark able is the

glittering foyer, deco rated with

fluted pilasters, bas-reliefs of

Russian compos ers and mir-

rored doors. One of the coun-

try’s leading opera houses, this

theatre was where most of

Russia’s great 19th-century

operas pre miered. These

include Mussorgsky’s Boris

Godunov (1874), Tchaikovsky’s

Queen of Spades (1890) and

Shostakovich’s con tro versial

opera Lady Macbeth of

Mtsensk (1934).

One of Russia’s most important cultural institutions, the Mariinskiy Theatre