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The Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Ukrainian: Одеський національний академічний театр опери та балету) is the oldest theatre in Odessa, Ukraine.

30/10/2021

Odessa Opera House is one of the most remarkable point of interest in Ukraine. At the same time, Opera theater is a heart of Odessa and its main attraction. In any time of the year, one can visit the theater and enjoy opera or ballet performances. The Opera located at the beginning of Rishelievskaya street – tourist area of old city.

Odessa Opera House – history
First opera house in Odessa appeared in 1809. The young, quickly developing city, constructed opera building for being a cultural center of region. Having totally different architecture forms, first opera house was in the same place as modern one. Having served more than 60 years, the first opera theater burned by accident. Right after this event, city government started to decide, what to build instead of losted one.

odessa opera house
First Odessa Opera after the fire

Modern Odessa opera and ballet theater appeared in 1887. The main aim was to create big, modern and safe theater for needs of contemporary city. That’s why city proclaimed competition for the best opera house project. As a result, 30 projects took part in competition, but none of them didn’t get first place. Afterwards, separate design created austrians architects and the jury gave him preference.

odessa opera house
Modern Opera building

Architects and architecture
Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer were the architects, who designed Odessa Opera House. In their firm worked more than 20 architects and the main directions of their work was development projects of theaters, banks, hotels and other elite buildings. According to their projects were built about 200 buildings in Europe, that include architectural styles of Italian Renaissance, Baroque and Art Nouveau. In addition, Fellner and Helmer built 48 theaters throughout Europe. Two of them are in Ukraine.

odessa opera house
The architects of Odessa Opera

Constantly experimenting and improving the design of theaters, the architects have made the construction process cheaper. Therefore, in whatever competition for the construction of theater they took part, they always won. The company Fellner and Helmer did not create standard projects, each theater was unique and unrepeatable. Therefore, you will not find another identical theater.

odessa opera house
Odessa opera and ballet theater

Facade of opera theater looks at Rishelievskaya ​​street, as it used to be main street. The entrance portal decorated by sculptures, which represent greek mythology and theater art. According to the fashion of late 19 century, all the building designed in austria baroque with some details of classicism. That’s why opera looks festive and magnificent in any weather.

odessa opera house
Front sculptures

Everything in the Odessa Opera and Ballet theatre made in order to feel fullness of feelings from contact with the art. Main hall designed to impress visitors with luxury and splendor. This impression creating late french rococo, smartly chosen for a main decoration. Because all walls covered by various stucco ornaments with fine gilding, the visitor find himself in a world of light, softened by red tones of seating places.

odessa opera house
Odessa Opera hall

Сeiling of main hall painted by famous austrian painter Heinrich Lefler, who was book and scene decorator. The plots of four ceiling paintings not chosen randomly. They represent episodes from William Shakespeare works: “Hamlet”, “Midsummer Night’s Dream”, “Winter’s Tale” and “As You Like It”. As you can see, all opera house decor has connection to theater and opera art.

The Saint Petersburg architect Thomas de Thomon designed the first opera theatre, it opened on 10 February 1810. This la...
29/10/2021

The Saint Petersburg architect Thomas de Thomon designed the first opera theatre, it opened on 10 February 1810. This last theatre is in almost exactly the same spot as the first theatre 200 years ago. The main entrance with its colonnade faced the sea. There was no foyer.[2][3]

In 1831, Michael Vorontsov, governor-general of Russian empire, Novorossia kray (currently part of Ukraine) decided to assign the old instituted quarantine fees to the Odessa Theatre.[4] Historian Charles King explains that one of the medical inspectors in Odessa was also the owner of the Odessa Theatre. When ticket sales were low, he would announce the discovery of an infection among newly arrived passengers and ordered them to be quarantined at their own cost. The expenses of the lazaretto, where the passengers that stayed would be used to hire a major performer for the theatre.[5]

On the night of 2 January 1873, the building was gutted by fire.[6]

A fund raising campaign began immediately. The city announced an international contest for the best theatre design. Forty designs were submitted, but none was chosen.[2][7] Finally, the project was drafted along the lines of Dresden Semperoper built in 1878, with its nontraditional foyer following the curvatures of auditorium.[8]

Two Viennese architects, Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer began to construct the larger replacement in 1883. The foundation stone was laid on 16 September 1884. On 1 October 1887 the theatre was completed, costing 1,300,000 rubles to build. It was named the Odessa City Theatre.[2][9][10][11]

The theatre was the first building in Odessa to employ the Edison Company with electric illumination.[12]

To keep theatre patrons comfortable in the summers, workers would lower waggonloads of ice and straw down a 35-foot shaft, then would carry it through a tunnel to a basement beneath the hall, where cool air rose up from vents beneath the seats.[11]

Theatre of Opera and Ballet, 1900
In 1925, the building was burnt again in a fire.[12] Fire team localized the burning, but the stage and orchestra pit were destroyed. During the fire of 1925, original curtain of the theater stage burned, which was never restored.[13]

There is a story that, when the Odessa people learned that the construction cost 1.3 million gold rubles, they gasped, but when they saw the new theatre, they gasped again, this time in admiration.[2]

In August 1941, when the Romanian army was dangerously close to Odessa, the command of the Odessa defensive area appointed a special anti-aircraft unit, which was given the task of protecting the theater building from bombing. On the roofs of the houses adjacent to the theater, guns were installed that shot all 73 days of the city defending.[14] During World War II, Nikita Khrushchev, concerned about the condition of the city, visited Odessa immediately after it was liberated. Khrushchev reported that only one corner of the building had been damaged by an enemy shell.[15]

The theatre was remodelled in the 1960s.[12]

The theatre sits upon shifting ground and is in danger of collapse. The first cracks in the foundation appeared almost as soon as the theatre opened. The theatre's eastern half sagged almost seven inches in its first three years, and the six walls began to tilt. Gleb Dranov, a former opera singer who sang at the theatre for 25 years, and who worked five years as a geologist, is helping repair the building.[11][12]

Construction
The building's façade is decorated in the Italian baroque style. In the niches are the busts of Mikhail Glinka, Nikolai Gogol, Alexandr Griboyedov and Alexander Pushkin. The large hall was modelled after the style of Louis XVI, and is richly decorated with gilded stucco figures and designs. The architects provided the foyer with twenty-four exits, to avoid tragedy in the case of a fire. On the side of the theatre is a lawn with fresh flowers and shrubs

29/10/2021

The Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Ukrainian: Одеський національний академічний театр опери та балету) is the oldest theatre in Odessa, Ukraine. The Theatre and the Potemkin Stairs are the most famous edifices in Odessa.[1]

The first opera house was opened in 1810 and destroyed by fire in 1873. The modern building was constructed by Fellner & Helmer in neo-baroque (Vienna Baroque) style and opened in 1887. The architecture of the luxurious audience hall follows the late French rococo style. The unique acoustics of the horseshoe-designed hall allows performers to deliver even a whisper-low tone of voice from the stage to any part of the hall. The most recent renovation of the theater was completed in 2007.

27/10/2021

The Saint Petersburg architect Thomas de Thomon designed the first opera theatre, it opened on 10 February 1810. This last theatre is in almost exactly the same spot as the first theatre 200 years ago. The main entrance with its colonnade faced the sea. There was no foyer.[2][3]

In 1831, Michael Vorontsov, governor-general of Russian empire, Novorossia kray (currently part of Ukraine) decided to assign the old instituted quarantine fees to the Odessa Theatre.[4] Historian Charles King explains that one of the medical inspectors in Odessa was also the owner of the Odessa Theatre. When ticket sales were low, he would announce the discovery of an infection among newly arrived passengers and ordered them to be quarantined at their own cost. The expenses of the lazaretto, where the passengers that stayed would be used to hire a major performer for the theatre.[5]

On the night of 2 January 1873, the building was gutted by fire.[6]

A fund raising campaign began immediately. The city announced an international contest for the best theatre design. Forty designs were submitted, but none was chosen.[2][7] Finally, the project was drafted along the lines of Dresden Semperoper built in 1878, with its nontraditional foyer following the curvatures of auditorium.[8]

Two Viennese architects, Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer began to construct the larger replacement in 1883. The foundation stone was laid on 16 September 1884. On 1 October 1887 the theatre was completed, costing 1,300,000 rubles to build. It was named the Odessa City Theatre.[2][9][10][11]

The theatre was the first building in Odessa to employ the Edison Company with electric illumination.[12]

To keep theatre patrons comfortable in the summers, workers would lower waggonloads of ice and straw down a 35-foot shaft, then would carry it through a tunnel to a basement beneath the hall, where cool air rose up from vents beneath the seats.[11]

Theatre of Opera and Ballet, 1900
In 1925, the building was burnt again in a fire.[12] Fire team localized the burning, but the stage and orchestra pit were destroyed. During the fire of 1925, original curtain of the theater stage burned, which was never restored.[13]

There is a story that, when the Odessa people learned that the construction cost 1.3 million gold rubles, they gasped, but when they saw the new theatre, they gasped again, this time in admiration.[2]

In August 1941, when the Romanian army was dangerously close to Odessa, the command of the Odessa defensive area appointed a special anti-aircraft unit, which was given the task of protecting the theater building from bombing. On the roofs of the houses adjacent to the theater, guns were installed that shot all 73 days of the city defending.[14] During World War II, Nikita Khrushchev, concerned about the condition of the city, visited Odessa immediately after it was liberated. Khrushchev reported that only one corner of the building had been damaged by an enemy shell.[15]

The theatre was remodelled in the 1960s.[12]

The theatre sits upon shifting ground and is in danger of collapse. The first cracks in the foundation appeared almost as soon as the theatre opened. The theatre's eastern half sagged almost seven inches in its first three years, and the six walls began to tilt. Gleb Dranov, a former opera singer who sang at the theatre for 25 years, and who worked five years as a geologist, is helping repair the building.

27/10/2021

The Odessa National Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet (Ukrainian: Одеський національний академічний театр опери та балету) is the oldest theatre in Odessa, Ukraine.

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Августовская, ВУлица , Корп. 14, кв. 13
Sumy
399146

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+380999717442

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