Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

(Ben Green) #1
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,


  1. & - = ^ 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
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