What is unique about the Odessa Opera House, which Forbes included in the list of the most interesting sights of Europe

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

The modern Opera and Ballet Theater was built in Odessa in 1887 on the site of the first city theater, which burned down on New Year's Eve 1873. I must say that most of the largest cities in the world have acquired central theaters, having already significantly "aged" and taken place. And in the Russian Empire at the beginning of the 19th century, not a single provincial city had its own theater. Such centers of culture were only in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Odessa is a unique exception!

First City Theater

The city was only 10 years old when it received the right and the imperial permission to build its own city theater.

This happened thanks to the Odessa mayor, an outstanding statesman, Duke de Richelieu (full name - Armand Emmanuel Sophia-Septimani de Vignero du Plessis, Count de Chinon, 5th Duke of Richelieu), whom Odessans still call shortly and with love - Duke.

The first theater was built on a dais so that it could be viewed from various points, both from land and from the sea. It was a large, beautiful white building with full-height columns, reminiscent of an ancient Greek temple.

The hall of the city theater could accommodate about 800 people. There were 44 chairs on three tiers of boxes, and behind them there was a large semicircular space, where another 700 people watched the performance while standing. There was no chandelier, the hall was lit by kenkets - five-candle candelabra attached to the outer walls of the boxes. The candles were greasy and wax. The stage was lit by large oil lamps. And there was no lighting on the gallery at all.

Fire

The theater building has been rebuilt several times. The last reconstruction works were completed on December 31, 1872, and on the night of January 2, 1873, the City Theater was completely destroyed by fire. The fire started due to the ignition of a gas burner illuminating the clock on the pediment of the side facade at night. All water carriers of the city were mobilized for extinguishing, but despite this, the fire could not be extinguished. And in the morning before the gaze of the amazed public, only smoking ruins that could not be restored appeared.

The fire caused enormous damage. The whole building cost 400,000 rubles! But … fortunately for the city, it was insured in the Russian Insurance Company for 150,000 rubles, movable assets for 20,000 rubles, and decorations and costumes for 40,000 rubles. Moreover, the insurance period ended at 12 noon on the day of the fire, so if it began a little later, the city would lose its insurance premium.

The first electrically lit building

A year later, the Odessa municipality announced a competition for the project of a new theater, which would correspond to the latest theatrical technology, including fire safety. The new Opera House, performed in the Baroque style with elements of the Italian Renaissance, appeared already on September 15, 1887. A huge amount was spent on its construction - 1.5 million rubles! The model for the Odessa Opera was the Dresden Theater by architect Gottfried Semper, erected four years earlier, with an unconventional foyer that followed the curvature of the auditorium.

The newly built new theater was fundamentally different from the previous one, and primarily in that it was equipped with electricity!

For the first time, electric bulbs flashed in Odessa in 1887, on the opening day of the theater. Hundreds of bulbs at the same time! This was the first building in the Novorossiysk Territory equipped with electricity and, accordingly, it was the first public building in Odessa, lit with electricity!

Two kilometers from the theater, on the current Staroportofrankovskaya street, an alternating current power plant was built specifically to illuminate the theater.

So with the construction of the theater in Odessa, the fate of the use of electricity in Russia was decided. In 1889, an alternating current station, modeled on the Odessa one, was opened in Tsarskoe Selo. Later, the Austrian burgomaster turned to the Odessa mayor with a request to provide data on the operation of the station, since already in 1890 a similar power plant was being built in Vienna.

To this day, the Odessa Opera House is one of the five most beautiful theaters in the world, and recently Forbes magazine included it in the list of 11 most interesting sights of Eastern Europe.