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Moscow - Culture |
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Moscow's central theatre
district lies a short distance to the northeast of the Kremlin and Red
Square. Both the Bolshoi and the Maly theatres sit directly on Theatre
Square, while the Moscow Arts Theatre lies just around the corner. Bolshoi Theater The imposing home
of the internationally-famed Bolshoi ballet was constructed in 1824 by
Osip Bove, though the company itself was begun in 1773 as a dancing school
for the Moscow Orphanage. For much of its history the Mariinsky Theater in
St. Petersburg overshadowed the Bolshoi, but with Moscow's restoration as
the capital in 1918 it gained pre-eminence. For most of the last three
decades the Bolshoi was led by Yuri Grigorovich, an artistic director
known as much for his autocratic control as for his accomplished,
classical choreography. Under Grigorovich's tenure, and graced by the
presence of a series of remarkably gifted dancers, the Bolshoi's became
known as one of the world's great companies. Despite Grigorovich's
departure in 1995, its performances continue to elicit international
acclaim, and an evening at the Bolshoi remains one of Moscow's sublime
pleasures. Although recent years have begun to take their toll on the
theater's grandiose ionic facade, the lovely, acoustically-excellent
theater within remains as captivating a venue as ever before. Maly Theater Though much less
well known today than either the Bolshoi or the MKhAT, the Maly gained
renown during the nineteenth-century as a venue for social and political
satires. The plays of Alexander Griboyedov (1795-1829), Nikolai Gogol
(1809-52), and Alexander Ostrovskiy (1823-86) gained their first
performances here, making the Maly an early centre for a culture of
intellectual opposition to the Tsarist state. The Pushkin Fine
Arts Museum Opened in 1912, the
Pushkin Fine Arts Museum possesses a collection of European art second in
Russia to only St. Petersburg's Hermitage. Much of the strength of the
collection is in Impressionist and Post-Impressionist painting, a result
of the oft-forgotten fact that such works gained an appreciative audience
in Russia long before they captured the imagination of collectors further
west. Manet's Dejeuner sur l'herbe resides here, as do Renoir's Bathing in
the Seine, a host of fine works by Van Gogh and Matisse, and an entire
gallery of Gauguins. Perhaps most exciting, however, is the
long-anticipated "Gold of Troy" exhibition, slated for April
1996. The Tretyakov
Gallery possesses the finest collection of traditional Russian painting in
the world. The core of the museum's collection was assembled in the middle
of the nineteenth century by Pavel Tretyakov, a wealthy Moscow merchant
whose passion for collecting included violins, birds, and milk cows as
well as Russian art. Tretyakov donated his extensive collection to the
city in 1892, and subsequent enlargement has long since provided the
Gallery with far more works than it can possibly exhibit in its limited
space. Although this means that innumerable fine works rarely see the
light of day, it also means that those works that are displayed are
without exception masterpieces of their period and genre. While everything
in the Tretyakov deserves and rewards patient attention, its collection of
icons stands as the definitive presentation of this most Russian of art
forms.
One of Moscow's
finest examples of the art nouveau architecture of Fyodor Shekhtel, also
known as the Ryabushinsky Mansion. The building served as the residence of
the great writer Maxim Gorky from 1931 to 1936. Built just after the turn
of this century, the mansion is appealing for its remarkable design and
decoration, both inside and out. Shekhtel's design is an almost
hallucinatory masterpiece of waveforms, floral mosaic and stucco
decorations, and vibrant hues--the uncontested highlight is the sinuous
main stair. All of these contrasts strongly with the building's
significance as the home of one of Russia's greatest
"proletarian" writers, but the irony merely add interest to a
visit. |
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