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Hermitage Theatre of Classical Russian Ballet
St. Petersburg, Russia

Established 1783
Official Website

The Hermitage Theatre, one of the oldest theatres in Russia, was built by order of Catherine the Great in 1782-1785 to a design by the architect Giacomo Quarenghi. It was constructed in the austere Neoclassical style on the site of what was once Peter  the Great's Winter Palace. Its unusual auditorium was designed to resemble an amphitheatre, the walls and columns decorated with colored imitation marble. Statues of Apollo and the nine Muses are placed in niches, with bas-relief portraits of famous musicians and poets above them.


From 1852 until after the Revolutionthe Hermitage Museum's entrance was under the
portico supported by ten 16-ft. tall  high atlantes of grey Serdobol granite from Finland in the middle of the southern facade of Catherine II's New Hermitage building.



Proscenium stage.  Curtain details below:


Curtain


Russian state symbol: two-headed eagle on curtain.
The double-headed eagle was adopted by Ivan III in 1472.



Plaster ceiling ornamentation




Neoclassical style

Its unusual auditorium was designed to resemble an amphitheatre, the walls and columns decorated with colored imitation marble. Statues of Apollo and the nine Muses are placed in niches, with bas-relief portraits of famous musicians and poets above them.





Roman (smooth) Corinthian columns.
Statues of Apollo and the nine Muses are placed in niches, with bas-relief portraits of famous musicians and poets above them.











Modified Corinthian pilasters uses Greek muses masks instead of typical fleurons


Photos and their arrangement © 2010 Chuck LaChiusa
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