From the vacant lot to the cultural quarter: Theater Square of St. Petersburg

Theater Square in St. Petersburg began with a huge wasteland between the Moika, Griboedovsky and Kryukov canals. A merchant from Holland Semyon Brumberg, who lived on the nearby Proviantska Street, installed sawmills in the wasteland in the middle of the 18th century. The energy of windmills and water mills was used for sawing logs and making building materials. For some time, the area wasteland was named Brumberg (1765-1770 gg.).

However, a few years later, after the construction of the entertainment booth, it was called the Carousel. Here you could ride the attractions and see the performances of horses in a large wooden amphitheater with benches. Horse games (which were then called "carousels") were held on a round arena, similar to circus.

When the booth decayed, the building of the first Russian musical theater was erected in its place. A large stone building was built by the project of the leading urban architect Antonio Rinaldi, one of the authors of St. Isaac's Cathedral. Three times a week the metropolitan beau monde of that time gathered for performances. The theater burned several times and was repeatedly rebuilt. The space in front of him, without philosophizing slyly, began to be called "the square of the Stone Theater" or "The Great Square in front of the Kamenny Theater."

The modern name - Theater Square - was fixed only since 1812. At the end of the century, in the place of the Stone Theater, the architect Vladimir Nikolay designed and built the building of the first higher musical institution in Russia - the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Her graduates were Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich, Georgy Sviridov. Here they taught Rimsky-Korsakov and Rubinstein. Today the Conservatory continues to accept the musically gifted young people.

The name "Teatralnaya" was preserved behind the square due to the fact that in the 40s of the 19th century a so-called circus theater was built opposite the old theater, designed by architect Albert Kavos. He envisaged in the building a round scene, suitable for both circus performances and theatrical productions.

Unfortunately, the building burned down. Twelve years later it was rebuilt and received a sonorous name, now known throughout the world - the Mariinsky Theater, in honor of the wife of Russian Emperor Alexander II Maria Feodorovna. In the Soviet years, the theater was named after SM Kirov. Sharp on the language of St. Petersburg dubbed it TOBIKom (Opera and Ballet Theater named after Kirov). His address (Theater Square St. Petersburg, house 1) is known to many theater lovers around the world. Here, in the Mariinsky, Shalyapin and Ulanova, Pavlova and Nureyev shone.

At the end of the XIX century, Teatralnaya Square was reconstructed, it featured memorials to the composer "storyteller" Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and the ancestor of the Russian classics Mikhail Glinka. It is interesting that the opera "Life for the Tsar" became the premiere performance in both theaters - Kamenny and Mariinsky.

The theater square is surrounded by residential buildings and administrative buildings, which are also monuments of architecture of the XIX century. So, the mansion at the address: Theater Square, house number 4, belonged to the St. Petersburg architect Egor Sokolov and was erected on his project. Later, the house was owned by other people. Shortly before his death in the apartment number 18 during the year lived the famous artist Mikhail Vrubel. It was in this building that the painter worked on the paintings "Pearl" and "After the concert."

House number 8 belonged to the nobleman, writer and translator Nikita Vsevolozhsky. It was in this building that members of the famous literary society "The Green Lamp", including AS Pushkin, gathered for their meetings. In one of the halls of the mansion under the light of a green lamp, future Decembrists and freethinkers discussed art, history and politics.

In the house number 14 lived an outstanding man - Nikolai Semenovich Mordvinov, a Russian naval commander and statesman. He was considered the best economist of the early XIX century. He was the only member of the Criminal Court over the Decembrists who did not sign the death sentence for them. In the building there were Zhukovsky and Karamzin, future Decembrists and Lermontov. The children's hospital No. 17 was in the house for a long time, now it is being rebuilt for a four-star hotel with underground parking.

Many buildings in the Theater Square belong to the so-called apartment houses, that is, multi-apartment buildings, the premises in which were rented and brought a good income to the owner. At different times, apartments in these apartment houses were shot by people who are the pride of Russian history and culture. So, in the income house of SI Andreev (Theater Square, 2) for five years, lived a famous artist and director Vsevolod Meyerhold, and in the apartment house von Kister (Theater Square, 16) dwelt ballerina Avdotya Istomin, whose "soul filled flight "Praised Pushkin.

The square keeps a memory of people walking along it. She still has a special spirit. In house number 10 is the Italian Institute of Culture, and even cafes and restaurants are focused on lovers of classical music and painting. Their interiors are intelligent (pianoforte, chess, pictures, restrained pastel colors), and the names fascinate: "The Nutcracker", "Sadko", "The Noble Nest", "Behind the Scene", "La bohème".

It is planned that in the coming years Teatralnaya Square will become a real "cultural quarter" of the second Russian capital: the second stage of the Mariinsky Theater is being built, and in 2015-16 it is planned to open the square of the same Metro station.