Excursion to the Bolshoi Theater: review. Big

How many times have I run past Bolshoi Theater, honoring him with a fleeting glance: “In place? - On the spot" and ran on. And it never occurred to me that the Bolshoi Theater is a kind of "state within a state", that it is a special world with its own laws, traditions, its own hierarchy.
And then the door to this world suddenly opened… at entrance No. 12, where the box office of the theater is located, and our wonderful blogging group gathered, led by a guide from the Bolshoi Theater Museum.
It will be difficult for me to convey in words all the splendor that appeared before our eyes ... Undoubtedly, the Bolshoi Theater is one of the most beautiful theaters in the world! A grandiose, recently completed renovation allowed us to see it in all its truly imperial splendor!
Just imagine that there are 6 more underground floors below the theater; that the Beethoven Hall, where musical concerts are held, is built on the principle of a “folding cup”, it is worth pressing the magic button and the stage, together with the rows, begins to rise and fold to a flat floor, and then
the concert hall turns into a banquet hall; that under the very roof there is a brand new rehearsal room with a sloping and rectangle-lined stage and a luxurious hall made of dark wood, where artists rest in anticipation of their part and where no outsiders have access.
The Bolshoi Theater is magnificent without further ado!

The last thing I want to do is rewrite Wikipedia - let's just silently admire!
However, it is still very short. About the Bolshoi Theatre.

The first name of the theater - Moscow Public Theater (1776).
Second - Petrovsky Theater (1780).
Third - Imperial Theater (1805).

In 1824 it was rebuilt by the architect Osip Bove.
The theater acquires its approximate current appearance in 1856 and owes them to the architect Albert Cavos.
Peter Klodt installed on the pediment the famous quadriga (four) of horses with the god of arts Apollo.

In the 1920s, the Bolshoi Theater was named after V.I. Lenin "a piece of purely landowner culture" and was on the brink of closing.
In 1983 - the theater received several nearby buildings.
In 2002, the New Stage was opened.

Theatre square. Grand Theatre

We were very lucky with the tour guide. Larisa - intelligent, graceful, with excellent presentation of information about the history of the theater

From the entrance lobby, we go down the stairs to the marble hall (a souvenir shop, a small wardrobe, toilet rooms), and from there we go down the escalator again and get into Beethoven Concert and Rehearsal Hall, the same "folding cup".
When there is a rehearsal of the orchestra, photography is strictly prohibited.
Therefore, the photograph is one, but it also gives a complete picture of the beauty of this technologically advanced and modern concert hall (noise-proof moving walls, and yes, glass partitions, rows of chairs, the stage itself, everything disappears, rises / falls / levels off).

Here is a diagram of the Bolshoi Theater in section.
Find the number 5 - this is the Beethoven Hall! That is, approximately it is located under the fountain on Theater Square!
(c) iCube studio illustration

And now, with bated breath, we enter the auditorium!

Are you blinded by the glitter of gold?
It turns out that there is one little trick, the so-called. optical illusion. In fact, not the entire surface is gilded, but only decorative protruding details.
This photo shows a white background.

And this is almost gone) The Tsar's box is magnificent!

And there's a trick here too. Atlas is not marble, as it may seem, but made of papier-mâché.

Now I would like to translate the admiringly emotional conversation into a practical channel, and discuss such important for theatergoers - comfortable and uncomfortable places in the auditorium. Thank God, at one time I was at the Bolshoi many times, at least ten, for sure. I watched both opera and ballet, sat in the stalls, on all the balconies and tiers, in the gallery, and once I even had a place “behind the column”.
So let's see what is stalls.
Chairs! The floor is sloping, so the rows are slightly higher than the other.

The color of the velvet upholstery is crimson-scarlet. Very beautiful

Under each chair is mounted something like a ventilation cover. Previously, in my opinion, this was not, it appeared after the repair. Very comfortably

But still, it must be admitted that the stage view is not the best.
Look at those lovely scarlet upholstered chairs. Amphitheater! It is located next to the stalls, under the royal box. The review is excellent!

See what it looks like from here! The whole scene is in full view!

Now let's look at the boxes.
The first tier is the boxes of the benoir.

This is how it can be seen from the boxes of the benoir. Very well.
But, in lodges, the first row is the best. The second - and the head is already in front of you. In the Bolshoi now, instead of chairs in the third row, they began to put high chairs, similar to bar ones. They are much cheaper and look great.
*Anna atlanta_s I was corrected (and she is a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater!) - high chairs in boxes 10-14 really give a good view, but in boxes 1-3 you can see less than 50% of the stage! Knowing such significant nuances will help you choose really good tickets.

Look closely - see chairs with high legs? If they offer tickets for them - take it without hesitation!

mezzanine boxes are at the level of the Royal Lodge.
Therefore, the review from here is by far the best.
See the lower box near the stage on the right? It is intended for artists who celebrate their anniversaries in the theatre, from here welcoming the audience, accepting bouquets and basking in applause.
Above it is a guest box for very important people.

Wait, wait admire the chandelier! We will admire and consider it in detail below. And now - fix your gaze on the gallery. See the gilded metal railings? This is an innovation in the Bolshoi - standing room. These are quite inexpensive - 200-300r. Sold with a student card. Such an experience has been practiced in European theaters for a long time, and now, finally, it has come down to us.
But! Yet… I am a snob, dear comrades. And I don’t understand why you need to stand on your feet for two or three hours and see a piece of the stage ... If you just go in to admire the theater, look a little and ... leave.
View from the balcony of the 4th tier

Well, now vdo-o-x.
And a delighted breath!

The weight of the steel frame with brass elements is about 1860 kg. Together with crystal elements - about 2.3 tons. Diameter - 6.5 meters, height - 8.5 meters.
By the way, the top part of the curtain is called "portal harlequin", and it is decorated with Russian heraldic symbols.

If you raise your head on the theater ceiling you will see Apollo playing on the golden "kithara", and 9 muses: Calliope with flute(muse of poetry) Euterpe with book and flute(muse of lyrics) Erato with lyre(muse of love songs) Melpomene with a sword(muse of tragedy) Waist with a mask(muse of comedy) Terpsichore with a tambourine(muse of dancing) Clio with papyrus(muse of history) Urania with globe(muse of astronomy). And instead of the ninth muse of the sacred hymns of Polyhymnia, the artists portrayed the “self-proclaimed” muse of painting with a palette and a brush.

Now on the elevator we rise even higher!

And then on the steps we overcome several spans.
Just think, out of breath and knees hurt, but we are now in big rehearsal room(on the photo of the section of the Bolshoi Theater, find No. 4)!
And we are wildly lucky, the rehearsal has just ended, and we can shoot a little.

The rectangles on the stage show the location of the scenery.
The scene has a visually visible slope of three degrees - this is customary in the Russian ballet tradition.

But let's not interfere.
Love it and that's enough.
We go down again and go to white foyer, which is located above the entrance to the theater.
The interior of 1856 has been restored here - painting in the "grisaille" technique (performed in different shades of the same color, which creates the impression of convex stucco images), large mirrors that increase the visual volume of the room, three crystal chandeliers.

• One of the leading theaters in the world, famous for its opera and ballet performances based on masterpieces of world classics.
• Three stage theater intended for different performances; to see the most magnificent hall, you need to choose performances going on historical scene.
• They amaze with their splendor Beethoven and Round Halls, ceiling painting in the White Foyer, in the center of which is the entrance to the imperial box.
• O purchasing tickets care should be taken in two or three months before the performance, and tickets are first sold through the box office of the theater.
• The theater organizes excursions, including in English, with a visit to the museum, halls, where you can sometimes see the rehearsal of the play.
• Souvenir shop where anyone can enter.

The Bolshoi Theater is a symbol of theatrical Russia. It is located in the heart of the capital, not far from. Opera and ballet performances based on the masterpieces of world classics are staged here, and the troupe of this theater has been considered one of the leading in the world for decades. It is not surprising that tickets for the theater's most famous productions are sold out long before they begin, despite the high cost. After the reconstruction, which was completed in 2011, this oldest public theater in Moscow shone with all colors. The former luxury of the imperial theater of the 19th century was returned to him, while retaining the famous acoustics. Today, the Bolshoi is rightfully considered one of the most beautiful theaters in Europe. Art history connoisseurs can visit not only performances, but also organized tours of the theater, as well as the Bolshoi Theater Museum.

Opera and ballet

The history of the Bolshoi Theater is closely connected with dozens of names that left the brightest mark on world culture: Yu. Grigorovich, V. Vasiliev, M. Plisetskaya, G. Ulanova, E. Maksimova, M. Liepa, G. Vishnevskaya, Z. Sotkilava and many others opera and ballet stars.

The leading place in the modern repertoire is occupied by the masterpieces of the Russian opera theater of the 19th and 20th centuries. Here you can hear such fundamental classics as Modest Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, Alexander Borodin's Prince Igor, The Queen of Spades, The Tsar's Bride and The Snow Maiden by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, one of the most significant operas of the 20th century - Katerina Izmailov” by Dmitry Shostakovich and others. In addition, masterpieces of world opera classics are performed on the stage: “La Traviata”, “La Boheme”, “Carmen”, “Manon Lescaut”, etc.

The permanent opera troupe of the Bolshoi Theater has an exceptionally strong cast of soloists. At the same time, the theater is actively attracting world-famous stars to the performance, first of all, outstanding compatriots, including: Anna Netrebko, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Khibla Gerzmava, Ildar Abdrazakov, Olga Peretyatko, Ekaterina Gubanova.

In ballet, the Bolshoi sees his task in the standard performance of the classical repertoire. Today, the ballets The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, La Bayadère by Ludwig Minkus, Jewels by George Balanchine, Onegin to the music of Pyotr Tchaikovsky, Spartacus by Aram Khachaturian, The Legend of Love » Arifa Melikova and others. The most eminent prima ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater is Svetlana Zakharova. She was the only one among Russian artists who was awarded the title of "etoile" of the ballet troupe of the La Scala theater in Milan. Another world-famous prima is Maria Alexandrova.

Eminent European conductors, directors, artists, set designers and artists are invited to stage performances of the Bolshoi Theater. The leading musical theaters of the world (La Scala, the London Royal Theatre, the Hamburg Theater, etc.) perform on the stage of the Bolshoi.

Theater scenes and poster

The Bolshoi Theater has three stages: Historical, New and Beethoven. If you are planning a visit to the theater and want to see not only ballet or opera, but also the famous theater building, its magnificent hall, you should choose performances on the Historical Stage. The new stage was built in 2002 and is located in a separate building, to the left of the historical one. The Beethoven stage appeared after the reconstruction in 2011 and is located in the historical building of the Bolshoi Theater, on the -2nd floor. Today, this stage hosts concerts and performances for children.

Performances at the Bolshoi Theater are in blocks. For example, the Nutcracker ballet is shown only in winter, in the second half of December, sometimes taking over the January holidays (each season has its own poster). The famous "Swan Lake" has been given for the last three years in autumn (mainly in September) and in January.

Ticket sales for performances on the Historical and New Stages begin three months in advance, and on the Beethoven Stage two months in advance. First, there is a pre-sale at the theater box office, and only the tickets remaining after the pre-sale are sold through the website and official distributors. Demand for tickets to iconic productions is huge, and seats at many ballets often run out at the pre-sale stage.

The history of the theater

The Bolshoi Theater began in the distant 1771. We owe his birth to the prosecutor Peter Urusov, to whom Catherine II granted the privilege of maintaining performances, balls, masquerades and other amusements. The first name of the theater was Petrovsky, on Petrovka Street in the center of Moscow. Petr Urusov attracted the Englishman Michael Maddox to the project. At the age of 19, he came to Russia, was engaged in artistic activities here (tight-robbing) and led the "museum of mechanical performances." However, the owners of the Petrovsky Theater did not get out of debt, and in 1805 the theater burned down altogether and, with all the debts, became the property of the state. Almost 20 years after the fire, the troupe of the Petrovsky Theater performed on various stages, and only in 1825 found its new home on Theater Square. The project of that building was developed by the chief architect of Moscow of that time -. The building impressed the Muscovites with its scale, and the prefix "large" was attached to the theater - "Bolshoi Petrovsky Theatre". It became the center of theatrical Moscow of that time.

A fire that broke out in the spring of 1853 destroyed it almost completely. The charred walls and columns of the portico "decorated" the square for several years. But before the coronation of Emperor Alexander II, the Bolshoi Theater was restored in record time (a year and a half!), and in August 1856 it appeared in even greater grandeur.

The competition for the restoration of the theater was won by the chief architect of the imperial theaters, Albert Cavos. The new building of the Bolshoi was significantly different from the previous one. It became almost 4 meters higher, a second pediment appeared on the facade, the Apollo's equestrian troika was replaced by a cast bronze quadriga. This appearance of the theater has survived to this day and is known today to the whole world.

Russian emperors lived in St. Petersburg, but according to ancient tradition, they came to the Kremlin for their coronation. Here, in, the sacrament of the wedding to the kingdom took place, after which the emperor with guests and retinue departed for solemn celebrations in the northern capital. After the opening of the new building of the Bolshoi Theater in 1856, it was decided to hold celebrations in honor of the coronation in Moscow. A special performance was given in the theater for the solemn event, and the monogram of the new emperor was placed over the entrance to the imperial box.

Theater interiors

Albert Kavos paid much attention to the auditorium. It was created with six tiers for 2300 spectators. In plan, the hall is similar to a violin, narrowing where the orchestra is located. Kavos was a brilliant acoustician: every element of his decor worked for sound. He came up with many unusual solutions: all the panels in the hall were made of resonant spruce, which is used to make violins, cellos and guitars. The stucco molding on the balconies was not made of gypsum, but of papier-mâché, which not only does not absorb sound, but also enhances it. There were many acoustic cavities in the hall. During the reconstruction of the historical building of the theater in 2005-2011, the decor of the auditorium, up to the fabric upholstery, was completely restored.

The interior of the hall is an elegant combination of the Renaissance with the Byzantine style, built on a combination of white, gold and bright crimson colors. Its unconditional decoration is a majestic crystal chandelier. It was created in France specifically for the Bolshoi Theater in 1863 (then it was with gas jets). The weight of the chandelier is 2.2 tons, the height is 9 meters, and the diameter is 6 meters. The chandelier has several tens of thousands of crystal elements. 30 years after its creation, its horns were converted into electric lamps, and in this form the chandelier has survived to this day.

Around the chandelier is an elegant painting "Apollo and the Muses". It was created in the 19th century by the academician of painting A. Titov. By the way, the artist, in his painting, cheated: he replaced one of the canonical muses, Polyhymnia (the muse of hymns), with the Muse of painting invented by him. You will see her with a palette and a brush in her hands.

During the reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater, the grandeur of the premises of the suite of the auditorium was restored: the Main Vestibule, the White Foyer, the Choir, the Exposition, the Round and the Beethoven Halls. Ceiling paintings have been restored in the White Foyer. It seems that this is an openwork stucco, but this is an optical illusion created by painting using the grisaille technique. In the center of the White Foyer is the entrance to the imperial box. Above its doors you can now see the monogram of the last emperor of Russia, Nicholas II: the interlacing of the letter "H" and the Roman numeral "two" - II.

The Beethoven and Round Halls amaze with their magnificence. Today we see them exactly as they were in 1895, when they were updated for the coronation of Nicholas II. The Beethoven Hall was returned to the imperial symbols lost in Soviet times. The walls of the hall are covered with red fabric, which took almost 5 years of research and restoration work to recreate. Red satin was woven by hand according to the technologies of the 19th century on jacquard looms. On such a loom, no more than 5-6 centimeters of fabric came out per day. In total, a little over 700 meters of canvas were made for the Beethoven and Round Halls.

Excursions to the Bolshoi Theater

Today, tickets to the Bolshoi Theater cost a lot. Therefore, it is worth paying attention to excursions around the Bolshoi. They are held in English and Russian several times a week in the morning, and start at the main entrance to the theater. It is better to queue at the entrance in advance, as the number of seats is limited. Ticket office opens at 11:00 sharp. Tourists are launched inside the theater, where they first purchase tickets, and then go on a tour. It lasts exactly one hour.

On the tour you can learn about the history of the Bolshoi Theater. The guides first lead the group through the halls of the Main Foyer, talking about their restoration and appointment in the pre-revolutionary period, then a visit to the most magnificent historical auditorium follows. At the end, the group goes to the balconies of the 4th tier, from where, if you're lucky, you can watch an opera or ballet rehearsal. Everything except rehearsals can be photographed. The theater has its own museum. Exhibitions organized by this museum are held in the Exposition and Choir Halls, and only spectators of performances or participants of excursions can visit them.

The tour ends at the Bolshoy gift shop on the -1 floor. Anyone can go to this store from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. seven days a week, regardless of whether they have a ticket. Entrance through entrance 9a. The Theater also has a buffet during performances, at the level of the fourth tier of the balcony. There are two halls in the buffet: in one you can sit on comfortable sofas at low tables, in the other you can sit standing at round high tables.

Photos provided by the press service of the Bolshoi Theater and the author.

The theater reserves the right to cancel excursions if they may interfere with its main activities (rehearsals, etc.) and special events.

Accompanied by a story
"History and architecture of the Bolshoi Theater"

INDIVIDUAL VISIT
(Information for visitors who are formed into a group immediately before the start of the tour)
Tours are held on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays. There is only one excursion on each of these days. in Russian and English- lasting one hour. Each group consists of 15 people. Tour starts at 11:00 and 11:30.

Tickets can be purchased at the ticket office located in the historical building of the theater (entrance number 12, one of the central ones) on the day of the tour. The cost of entrance tickets is 1,500 rubles for citizens of the Russian Federation (excursion in Russian), 2,000 rubles for foreign citizens (excursion in English).

ATTENTION! From 10:45, next to the indicated entrance (No. 12), security officers (PSCs) begin to issue bracelets with the queue number. Wristbands are issued until 11:00 (time of ticket office opening) or until the maximum number of people wishing to buy tickets for the tour is exhausted. Citizens are invited to the box office in accordance with the serial number indicated on their bracelet. Citizens who have lost or damaged their bracelets are not allowed to the ticket office on this day.

PRIVILEGES
A discount ticket worth 500 rubles is provided to schoolchildren (grades 8-11), full-time students and pensioners.

On THURSDAYS there are also guided tours with electronic tickets, which are sold on the theater website. Start of the tour for a group in Russian (20 people) at 11:00, for a group in English (20 people) at 11:30. Gathering of sightseers: entrance No. 12 (one of the central ones) of the historical building of the theater.

RULES FOR SELLING ELECTRONIC TICKETS FOR TOURS OF THE HISTORICAL THEATER BUILDING

1. Ticket information
1.1 An e-ticket for a tour of the building of the Historical Stage can only be purchased on the website of the Bolshoi Theatre.
1.2 The ticket is valid for one person per session at the appointed date and time, protected by a QR code, contains information about the payer and the visitor (surname, passport details, birth certificates of the child).
1.3 Children are allowed on the tour at least 10 years of age with a ticket and accompanied by an adult.
1.4 The access control for the tour is carried out using an electronic access control system, the identity documents of the visitor indicated on the ticket are checked.
1.5 A ticket that does not contain mandatory information or contains false information, as well as if there are corrections or damages that make it difficult to check it at control, is invalidated and releases the Theater from any obligations on it, the visitor may not be allowed on the tour without reimbursement of expenses.
1.6 Information about the tours is posted on the Theater website in the "Visit to the Theater" section ().
1.7 Advance sale of tickets for the tour opens on the website 7 days before the date of the event in accordance with the approved schedule, which is posted on the Theater website in advance from 11:00 (Moscow time)
1.8 The cost of a ticket for the tour is 1,500 rubles (standard ticket) for one adult visitor and 500 rubles (reduced ticket) for one visitor - a citizen of the Russian Federation of retirement age, a schoolchild, a full-time student of a Russian university.
1.9 The tour lasts 1 (One) hour, the entrance is through the Central entrance of the Historical Stage (entrance No. 12).
1.10 The time of the sessions, the frequency of visits, the number and composition of groups is determined by the administration of the Theater, changes can be made by decision of the management of the Theater with the preliminary placement of information on the site.

2. Rules for buying tickets for an excursion on the site
2.1 The purchase of an electronic ticket for the tour is available to registered users on the website of the Bolshoi Theater.
2.2 To purchase a ticket, the buyer must enter his personal account on the theater website () using his username and password or register again (link to the rules for buying a ticket on the site).
2.3 The automated system offers the buyer to select the required number of tickets for a certain date and time, which are placed in the order basket, and then pay for them with a valid bank card.
2.4 When placing an order for the purchase of a ticket, the surname and passport data of visitors must be indicated, which after payment cannot be changed to other persons.
2.5 P the user bears full responsibility for all actions performed in the personal account on the site under his name and is obliged to immediately notify the Theater in any way possible in case of unauthorized use of it.
2.6 After confirmation of successful payment, e-tickets are reflected in the User's personal account, payment information is sent to the specified e-mail address, tickets must be printed out independently in A4 format.
2.7 When buying tickets, please note that in an unpaid state, tickets can be in the shopping cart for no more than 20 minutes, after which they are automatically canceled and no more than 2 (two) tickets are formed in one order.

How many times have I run past Bolshoi Theater, honoring him with a fleeting glance: “In place? - On the spot" and ran on. And it never occurred to me that the Bolshoi Theater is a kind of "state within a state", that it is a special world with its own laws, traditions, its own hierarchy.
And then the door to this world suddenly opened… at entrance No. 12, where the box office of the theater is located, and our wonderful blogging group gathered, led by a guide from the Bolshoi Theater Museum.
It will be difficult for me to convey in words all the splendor that appeared before our eyes ... Undoubtedly, the Bolshoi Theater is one of the most beautiful theaters in the world! A grandiose, recently completed renovation allowed us to see it in all its truly imperial splendor!
Just imagine that there are 6 more underground floors below the theater; that the Beethoven Hall, where musical concerts are held, is built on the principle of a “folding cup”, it is worth pressing the magic button and the stage, together with the rows, begins to rise and fold to a flat floor, and then
the concert hall turns into a banquet hall; that under the very roof there is a brand new rehearsal room with a sloping and rectangle-lined stage and a luxurious hall made of dark wood, where artists rest in anticipation of their part and where no outsiders have access.
The Bolshoi Theater is magnificent without further ado!

I'm in and

The last thing I want to do is rewrite Wikipedia - let's just silently admire!
However, it is still very short. About the Bolshoi Theatre.

The first name of the theater - Moscow Public Theater (1776).
Second - Petrovsky Theater (1780).
Third - Imperial Theater (1805).

In 1824 it was rebuilt by the architect Osip Bove.
The theater acquires its approximate current appearance in 1856 and owes them to the architect Albert Cavos.
Peter Klodt installed on the pediment the famous quadriga (four) of horses with the god of arts Apollo.

In the 1920s, the Bolshoi Theater was named after V.I. Lenin "a piece of purely landowner culture" and was on the brink of closing.
In 1983 - the theater received several nearby buildings.
In 2002, the New Stage was opened.

Theatre square. Grand Theatre

We were very lucky with the tour guide. Larisa - intelligent, graceful, with excellent presentation of information about the history of the theater

From the entrance lobby, we go down the stairs to the marble hall (a souvenir shop, a small wardrobe, toilet rooms), and from there we go down the escalator again and get into Beethoven Concert and Rehearsal Hall, the same "folding cup".
When there is a rehearsal of the orchestra, photography is strictly prohibited.
Therefore, the photograph is one, but it also gives a complete picture of the beauty of this technologically advanced and modern concert hall (noise-proof moving walls, and yes, glass partitions, rows of chairs, the stage itself, everything disappears, rises / falls / levels off).

Here is a diagram of the Bolshoi Theater in section.
Find the number 5 - this is the Beethoven Hall! That is, approximately it is located under the fountain on Theater Square!
(c) iCube studio illustration

And now, with bated breath, we enter the auditorium!

Are you blinded by the glitter of gold?
It turns out that there is one little trick, the so-called. optical illusion. In fact, not the entire surface is gilded, but only decorative protruding details.
This photo shows a white background.

And this is almost gone) The Tsar's box is magnificent!

And there's a trick here too. Atlas is not marble, as it may seem, but made of papier-mâché.

Now I would like to translate the admiringly emotional conversation into a practical channel, and discuss such important for theatergoers - comfortable and uncomfortable places in the auditorium. Thank God, at one time I was at the Bolshoi many times, at least ten, for sure. I watched both opera and ballet, sat in the stalls, on all the balconies and tiers, in the gallery, and once I even had a place “behind the column”.
So let's see what is stalls.
Chairs! The floor is sloping, so the rows are slightly higher than the other.

The color of the velvet upholstery is crimson-scarlet. Very beautiful

Under each chair is mounted something like a ventilation cover. Previously, in my opinion, this was not, it appeared after the repair. Very comfortably

But still, it must be admitted that the stage view is not the best.
Look at those lovely scarlet upholstered chairs. Amphitheater! It is located next to the stalls, under the royal box. The review is excellent!

See what it looks like from here! The whole scene is in full view!

Now let's look at the boxes.
The first tier is the boxes of the benoir.

This is how it can be seen from the boxes of the benoir. Very well.
But, in lodges, the first row is the best. The second - and the head is already in front of you. In the Bolshoi now, instead of chairs in the third row, they began to put high chairs, similar to bar ones. They are much cheaper and look great.
*Anna atlanta_s I was corrected (and she is a ballerina of the Bolshoi Theater!) - high chairs in boxes 10-14 really give a good view, but in boxes 1-3 you can see less than 50% of the stage! Knowing such significant nuances will help you choose really good tickets.

Look closely - see chairs with high legs? If they offer tickets for them - take it without hesitation!

mezzanine boxes are at the level of the Royal Lodge.
Therefore, the review from here is by far the best.
See the lower box near the stage on the right? It is intended for artists who celebrate their anniversaries in the theatre, from here welcoming the audience, accepting bouquets and basking in applause.
Above it is a guest box for very important people.

Wait, wait admire the chandelier! We will admire and consider it in detail below. And now - fix your gaze on the gallery. See the gilded metal railings? This is an innovation in the Bolshoi - standing room. These are quite inexpensive - 200-300r. Sold with a student card. Such an experience has been practiced in European theaters for a long time, and now, finally, it has come down to us.
But! Yet… I am a snob, dear comrades. And I don’t understand why you need to stand on your feet for two or three hours and see a piece of the stage ... If you just go in to admire the theater, look a little and ... leave.
View from the balcony of the 4th tier

Well, now vdo-o-x.
And a delighted breath!

The weight of the steel frame with brass elements is about 1860 kg. Together with crystal elements - about 2.3 tons. Diameter - 6.5 meters, height - 8.5 meters.
By the way, the top part of the curtain is called "portal harlequin", and it is decorated with Russian heraldic symbols.

If you raise your head on the theater ceiling you will see Apollo playing on the golden "kithara", and 9 muses: Calliope with flute(muse of poetry) Euterpe with book and flute(muse of lyrics) Erato with lyre(muse of love songs) Melpomene with a sword(muse of tragedy) Waist with a mask(muse of comedy) Terpsichore with a tambourine(muse of dancing) Clio with papyrus(muse of history) Urania with globe(muse of astronomy). And instead of the ninth muse of the sacred hymns of Polyhymnia, the artists portrayed the “self-proclaimed” muse of painting with a palette and a brush.

Now on the elevator we rise even higher!

And then on the steps we overcome several spans.
Just think, out of breath and knees hurt, but we are now in big rehearsal room(on the photo of the section of the Bolshoi Theater, find No. 4)!
And we are wildly lucky, the rehearsal has just ended, and we can shoot a little.

The rectangles on the stage show the location of the scenery.
The scene has a visually visible slope of three degrees - this is customary in the Russian ballet tradition.

But let's not interfere.
Love it and that's enough.
We go down again and go to white foyer, which is located above the entrance to the theater.
The interior of 1856 has been restored here - painting in the "grisaille" technique (performed in different shades of the same color, which creates the impression of convex stucco images), large mirrors that increase the visual volume of the room, three crystal chandeliers.

Despite the fact that the Bolshoi Theater opened after restoration several years ago, it is difficult to get there for many reasons, including the high cost of tickets. However, there is a way out! Excursions are organized at the Bolshoi Theater, so that on certain days everyone can visit the historical stage and inspect the building. This is my review for today.

Official tours to the Bolshoi Theater are held regularly, three times a week (Monday, Wednesday, Friday), they start at exactly 12-10 pm, while tickets for the tour can only be purchased at the theater box office and only on the day of the tour (the box office opens at 12 -00 and is located in the 12th entrance). Live queue. The whole problem is that they recruit only one Russian-speaking group of 20 people.
There is another option to get into the historic building - join the tour organized by a travel agency, but the difference in price is significant. An official tour from the Bolshoi Theater costs 500 rubles, a tour as part of a tourist group from an agency will cost you at least 1,500 rubles. As the saying goes, if you can't see the difference, why pay more?

On Wednesday, we got up early and went to the building of the Bolshoi Theater, which is located at Theater Square, 1. It is more convenient to get out of the Teatralnaya metro station, because in this way you will not have to cross the road.
We were at the theater at 11-15, but people were already crowding at the entrance we needed (tickets for excursions are sold at the box office, entrance 12). We counted the heads of those present - we were 18th. That is, there was a chance to get on the tour. By the way, by 12 o'clock we had a very long tail behind us, about 20 more people. People did not believe that there would be only one group. In general, if you come at exactly 12, then you will be wasting your time.

So, the time was approaching 12 and we did not lose hope of getting inside. Meanwhile, “girlfriends” began to approach everyone who was standing in line. So we were already 30th in the queue ... Hope was melting before our eyes.
To our joy, at 12 o'clock the door opened, a guard came out with a machine gun and asked the queue to split into two parts, foreigners and Russians (a tour for foreigners costs 1300 rubles). As it turned out, there were a lot of foreigners in front of us. So to our part, we managed to get into the list of lucky ones.
At the entrance, the guard counted out exactly 20 people from the Russian queue. And more and more did not miss a single person. Literally behind us, the heavy door closed and the cries of the angry crowd, those who did not hit, were not heard.

Joyful, we bought tickets for the tour and went down to the cloakroom. True, I had to go through the control through the metal detectors and show the contents of the handbags.

The guide showed up and started the tour.
So, a few words about the theater itself. Let's move to the street.
March 28, 1776 is considered to be the founding date of the theater, when one of the first performances was played in the house of Prince Vorontsov on Znamenka. And since 1780, the theater has settled in its current location, where a building was built for it. Theater Square was then called Petrovsky, and the theater itself was called Petrovsky. In 1805, the theater is on fire (as it will be many times later, candles, you understand). According to the project of O.V. Bove and A.A. Mikhailov, in 1821-1824 a new building was built, a monument of Russian classicism of the 19th century, which we can still admire today. In 1853 a fire broke out again and the whole theater burned out, except for the beautiful walls.

After 3 years, it was again restored by the architect A.K. Kavos. The building was restored in 13 months, it was necessary to have time for the coronation of Alexander III. The volume of the building was preserved, the quadriga, controlled by Apollo (the work of Klodt), again ascended above the central porticos.

The last reconstruction of the theater began in 2005 and lasted for a long 6 years, the underground space of the theater was significantly expanded, the foyer and the auditorium were restored.

With this, I will end my short digression into history and return to the excursion.
First of all, we went to see the newly created underground space of the Bolshoi Theater. To do this, we loaded into a large glass elevator and went down to the minus first floor.

It should be noted that it goes underground for 27 meters. Under the ground there is a new transforming hall - the Beethoven Hall. The guide told us that geographically we were no longer in the theater building, but somewhere under the theater square, between the theater and the Vitali fountain.

The Beethoven Hall is a super-technological hall where the walls fold like an accordion, and the stage itself can rise and fall 6 meters down. The walls of this hall are reinforced concrete, so the acoustics are not very good. But on the other hand, rehearsals and conferences are regularly held here. By the way, it should be noted that there are no difficulties with buying tickets for a concert in the Beethoven Hall - see the official website of the Bolshoi.

Unfortunately, I do not have photos of this hall, since there was a rehearsal there, and the guide forbade us to take pictures.

One of the halls, near the elevator.

There is a very beautiful chandelier in this hall.

After visiting the Beethoven Hall, we went to see the Historical Stage - in fact, why many came on the tour.

Here our group was very unlucky, the lights were turned off in the hall, so we did not manage to see all the luxury of the Historical Hall.

The scenery for the new performance was in full swing on the stage.

The guide, almost in a whisper, told us about how and where the scenery is stored, about where it is better to sit in the hall (you need to focus on the royal box in the center - you can see it best there, well, choose the first rows of balconies).

By the way, there are wooden chairs in the hall, and soft armchairs in the boxes.

It was very interesting to me that the historical stage of the Bolshoi Theater was made according to the principle of a musical instrument, for example, the Guitar. The auditorium is completely wooden, from a special kind of pine.
The ceiling is a deck, the stage is a hole for the sound to exit, and the hall is actually the very bend of a voiced guitar. Therefore, the sound reaches the audience so alive and full.

In the dark, we tried to make out the stucco, the golden ornament that decorates the hall. It turned out to be papier-mâché covered with gold leaf. Despite the fact that the whole hall seems to be gold, it took only 8 kg of gold to finish. 800 restorers worked on the restoration of the gilding for 3 years.

One of the sightseers asked to turn on the light - but naturally they didn’t do it, we were told: “This is not a museum for you, the theater lives its own life, and you are guests here.” Oh, it's a pity, I imagine how beautiful it is here when the lights are on.

After sitting on the first row for a while, we went to the 6th tier to inspect the hall from above.

On the sixth tier are the cheapest seats. I was surprised that the places here are standing, like a bus. We were told they were for students. It is very difficult to see something from the side, so only half of the stage will be visible. The side is very low, I even became a little scared of the height that opens from above.

But from here you can see in detail the chic chandelier of the Bolshoi, which appeared here in 1870. Chandelier height - 7 meters, diameter - 6. It weighs about 2 tons.
Impressively beautiful!

The most impressive is the White Audience Foyer. The guide told us that before the restoration the walls of this hall were white. However, the restorers noticed that beautiful paintings were hidden under the paint, so the ceiling painting was restored using the grisaille technique according to the surviving drawings and drawings.

From the spectator foyer, on the right and on the left, there are also front rooms.
First, we examined the red small and large imperial foyers. These rooms were decorated in the French style for Emperor Nicholas II. The small foyer is known for its acoustics, where you can even speak in a whisper.

In the large foyer, unique wall panels attract special attention. Therefore, a special temperature regime is established here. Some of the panels depict a double-headed eagle, while others show a sign made from the first letters of the names of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. In the 20th century, concerts and sometimes party congresses were held here.

On the other side of the beautiful foyer with stairs there is also a hall where the exhibitions are located. During our visit there were stands dedicated to the ballet Ruslan and Lyudmila.

Several costumes from the performances were displayed in the center of the hall.

The windows in this room are beautifully decorated.

At the end of the tour, we went down to the gift shop of the Bolshoi Theater, where you could buy books about the theater and naturally memorable souvenirs. So the simplest mug with a logo will cost 1.5 thousand rubles, a porcelain pair - 2.5 thousand rubles. And beautiful figurines with ballerinas cost 30,000 rubles each.

In general, I liked the tour of the Bolshoi Theater. When else can you photograph the halls of the Bolshoi Theater without guests?
There are also disadvantages - an hour of waiting in line in the cold, nerves about whether you will get inside. In addition, the tour lasted only 1 hour, we literally ran through all the halls. People did not have time to take even a few photos.

Passwords and appearances

Address: Moscow, metro station Teatralnaya (metro station Okhotny Ryad, Revolution Square), Theater Square, 1
Time: Mon, Wed, Fri at 12-10. There are only two excursions per day: one in Russian (20 people) and one in English.
Tickets can be bought at the box office of the Bolshoi Theater on the day of the tour (12 entrance), the box office opens at 12-00.
The cost of the tour (in Russian): 500 rubles, 1300 rubles (in English).

Reduced tickets - 250 rubles (schoolchildren, students, WWII veterans and others). Children under 14 years of age are not allowed to participate in the tour.

Details on official website Bolshoi Theater

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