Karamzin fire in the Bolshoi Theater. Through fire and destruction

The history of the Bolshoi Theatre, whose status seems to imply the benevolence of the authorities, and an abundance of privileges, and unlimited artistic and material possibilities, nevertheless contains many tragic pages. It has been rebuilt several times due to fires. Together with the whole country, he survived several wars and revolutions. However, the Bolshoi endured all these trials with dignity, and these trials turned out to be tough for him thanks to good leadership.

Let us turn to the history of the Bolshoi Theatre. In 1775, Prince Urusov received from Empress Catherine II the highest permission for the right to maintain a Russian theater in Moscow. The business partner of the prince was a mechanic and entrepreneur, a Russified Englishman Michael Medox. He led the construction of the new theater building.

Five years later, in 1780, the theater was built. It is located on the right bank of the Neglinka, on Petrovka Street, which is why it was called "Petrovsky". Alas, in the same year it burned down for an unknown reason. Petr Vasilyevich Urusov retired, as most of the construction costs were a burden on his personal fortune. As a result, the whole project fell on the shoulders of Medox.

The Englishman was an energetic and enterprising man and undertook to rebuild the theater. The building was erected at a record speed, in just five months. The new theater quickly gained popularity, and it was so high that the lodges were often redeemed by noble families for the whole season.

The commercial success prompted Medox to think about the need to open another theater, which he did in 1783. Alas, Medox's calculations turned out to be wrong. The new project was a failure. Debts grew, and the entrepreneur was forced to mortgage both theaters to the Board of Trustees. Empress Maria Feodorovna contributed to the fact that Petrovsky was redeemed by the state treasury. The Petrovsky Theater came under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Theaters Office and received the status of a government institution.

"What good is Medox if in the end he lost his offspring?" - you ask. And the fact that, despite any difficulties, he managed to bring the matter to the end and thanks to his perseverance, Russia received one of the most famous theaters in the world. I'm not talking about the building, of course, it burned down shortly after the purchase, it is important that Medox did not allow the troupe to fall apart. Yes, luck turned away from this man at some point, but his merits were still appreciated: the Empress granted Medox a lifetime pension of 3 thousand rubles and a house not far from the Petrovsky Theater.

It was in the 18th century, but what is happening in the Bolshoi now?

Recently, Nikolai Tsiskaridze was fired from the Bolshoi Theater. The dismissal itself was not without controversy. A fixed-term contract was concluded with the artist as with a teacher-repetiteur, but as a ballet dancer he is still a full-time employee and his contract is supposedly unlimited. Tsiskaridze believes that the paper on the transfer to a fixed-term contract was slipped to him. And the police revealed the theft of about 90 million rubles allocated for the repair of the Bolshoi Theater.

On the site where the State Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater rises majestically, there once stood another building, which was called the Petrovsky Theater of Medox - was the first permanent theater in Moscow, in which musical and dramatic performances were staged.

In 1805, the theater building burned down and the troupe completely disintegrated. Only 15 years later, the construction of a new theater began. The theater built in 1824 (architect O.I. Bove, using the design of A.A. Mikhailov) was named Bolshoy Petrovsky and was opened on January 6, 1825*

The Bolshoi Theater, according to S.T. Aksakov, "struck with its splendor and grandeur and captivated the eye with the proportionality of parts in which lightness was combined with grandeur." He surprised his contemporaries not only with the beauty and completeness of architectural forms, but also with the sophistication of the interior decoration, convenience for the audience. “In all five tiers, there was not a single place from where the stage would not be visible in its entirety. The auditorium was illuminated by a huge chandelier descending from the height of the ceiling. A magnificent picturesque curtain depicted the entry of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich into Moscow. The barriers of the boxes were trimmed with gold ornaments, and the royal box was the height of splendor and beauty.

The Bolshoi Theater was infinitely dear to Muscovites. Within its walls, the glory of the Russian vocal and ballet schools was established. The first Russian operas and ballets were staged there. The music of famous composers sounded here, famous conductors, musicians, singers and ballerinas performed. But this masterpiece was destined to die from a fire that occurred on March 11, 1853.

The first report on the fire of the Bolshoi Theater appeared in the press on the pages of the 32nd issue of Moskovskie Vedomosti on March 14, 1853: theater, why the fire brigade of the Tver part immediately went there and a signal was thrown on the watchtower to gather fire brigades from all parts of the city. Upon arrival at the site, it was found that the theater was burning inside and the flame, which quickly spread in all directions of the interior of the theater, flies out in a huge mass through the windows and onto the roof of it, and, despite all the efforts of the fire brigades who had gathered at the fire site, cease fire and even weaken there was no possibility of its strength, and the entire interior of the theater building, except for the side halls in the mezzanine and the rooms on the lower floor, which housed the office, cash desk and buffet, completely burned down.

So, from the message it is clear that when the city's fire brigades arrived at the theater, the fire engulfed the entire huge building. At that time, the firefighters of Moscow did not have enough forces or equipment to withstand a fire of this magnitude. The filling pipes available to the fire departments could only put out a fire in buildings of one or two floors, and even then if it did not reach large sizes. If a fire broke out in tall buildings and spread rapidly, as happened in the Bolshoi Theater, then its extinguishing by low-performance pumps, driven by the efforts of several rockers, rarely ended in success. In addition, water had to be delivered to fire pumps in buckets or brought in barrels from the Moscow River.

An eyewitness to the fire is a well-known writer and master of oral stories from folk life I.F. Gorbunov - recalled: “Lent on March 11, 1853, the Bolshoi Moscow Theater burned down. The fire started in the morning. There was a little snow. I've been to that fire. I did not see the bold and generous feat of the roofer Marin, who climbed up the drainpipe to the very roof to save the theatrical carpenter. The spectacle of the fire was impressive. It was strange to watch how firemen with their "syringes" circled around this giant in flames. The fireman, bandmasters, firefighters furiously shouted in hoarse, bestial voices: “Meshchanskaya, pump!”

The chimney of the petty-bourgeois section begins to shoot a jet as thick as an index finger from its sleeve. He shakes for two or three minutes - there is no water.

Water! - shouts the fireman. - Sidorenko! I will bury in the coffin! ..

Sidorenko, black as coal, bulging his eyes, turns the barrel.

Sretenskaya!.. Beware!..

Audience, pull back!

Gentlemen, back down! - shouts a private bailiff.

No one is moving, and there was nowhere to move: everyone is standing at the walls of the Maly Theater. The private bailiff ordered it so, for his own amusement. He stood, stood, and thinks: "Let me shout." And shouted ... Everything is better ...

Back, back! Pull back! - in a politely contemptuous tone, the elegantly dressed adjutant of Count Zakrevsky shouts, assuming the role of a policeman.

Everyone stands silent. The adjutant begins to get angry.

I will order now to pour water on everyone! - the adjutant gets excited.

Water is now a hundred rubles bucket! It’s better to order the kiyatra to be poured, - is heard from the crowd.

Two fountains nearby, you can't drink from them. They drive to the Moscow River for water. Will such a fire soon be placated?

Look look! Wow!

The roof collapsed, sending up a myriad of sparks and a cloud of thick smoke.

And the giant burns and burns, exposing huge fiery tongues from the windows, as if teasing the Moscow fire brigade with its "syringes". By eight o'clock in the evening, the authorities, and the firemen, and the horses - all were exhausted and stood.

Another eyewitness to the fire, former director of the Maly Theater S.I. Solovyov, tells about this event in his memoirs:

“The morning of March 11 was grey, sunless. It was 9 o'clock, I was getting ready to go to the theatre. At this time, the theatrical physician L., with whom I lived together, came to me and asked me: “Have you heard anything?” - "Nothing, but what?" - “Yes, they say, I don’t know how fair it is that the Bolshoi Theater is on fire.” My heart sank painfully, and I barely had the strength to reach the window, from which the roof of the Bolshoi Theater was visible, but now some dark, moving mass was visible there. I left immediately. The closer I got, the more obvious the misfortune became and the more doubt was impossible, but I, out of some childish obstinacy, still continued to disbelieve and said to myself: “It’s definitely on fire, but not the theater, but something else.” But then there's the theatre. What an amazing sight! Long tongues of fire protruded from every window on the upper floor, coiled among themselves, and disappeared in great puffs of black smoke. The fire raged with particular force on the stage and in the auditorium: it was a real hell there. In the "deceased" theatre, the mezzanine boxes were supported by cast-iron columns, which rested on the barrier of the benoirs. After the fire, one of these columns was found. One end of it was melted and turned into an ugly lump. What was the fire from which cast iron was melted? Many artists, completely lost and with tears in their eyes, walked aimlessly near their burning native nest. The fire, with increasing force, continued to do its terrible devastation; he burned whole millions with relentless cruelty.

Many musical instruments and a small part of the theater library burned down. Fortunately, the entire library was in the Maly Theatre. A strong fire lasted about two days, and the entire fire ended at least a week and a half later. After the fire, I went into the interior of the theater to look at the auditorium. What a sad and at the same time majestic picture! It was a skeleton, but the skeleton of a giant, inspiring involuntary respect. These remains spoke loudly of past glory, of past greatness. They say that the auditorium after the fire was very similar to the ruins of the Roman Colosseum.

In the story of I.F. Gorbunov mentions the feat of Marin, who saved a theatrical carpenter during a fire.

Vasily Gavrilovich Marin, a peasant in the Yaroslavl province, was in Moscow on his way from St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in roofing work. He witnessed how three carpenters of the theater, fleeing from the fire, jumped out onto the roof. Two of them rushed down and “killed themselves on the pavement to death,” and the third, carpenter Dmitry Petrov, remained on the roof, where he was threatened with imminent death. The fire brigades did not have the means to help him. Marin, leaving the crowd, volunteered to save the dying man. On the stairs, immediately given to him by firefighters, Marin climbed to the capitals of the columns of the main entrance, then he climbed onto the drainpipe and from it on a pole gave the dying man a rope. Petrov, fixing the end of the rope on the roof, descended along it to the drain, and then down the stairs to the ground.

In remote corners of Russia, the fire of the theater became known from numerous posters and popular prints, which described in sentimental tones “the feat of a simple Russian person, a peasant of state property, the Yaroslavl province, the Rostov district, the village of Evseeva Vasily Gavrilovich Marina, who showed selflessness during the fire of the Great Moscow theatre." The play "Marin's Feat" was even composed and staged on the stage of the Moscow Theater. But this ridiculous opus had no success with the public.

The most stringent investigation into the "root cause" of the fire was made. Most of the witnesses testified that the blaze originated in a closet located on the right side of the stage, under the stairs leading to the women's lavatories. In the closet were kept various tools and things of theatrical carpenters and joiners. In the same closet, the assistant stage engineer Dmitry Timofeev kept his warm clothes. On the morning of the fire, in preparation for the concert, he opened the closet door to put in the sheepskin coat, and saw fire in it. Shouting "Fire! Fire! ”, Timofeev rushed to the stage. Several workers ran to his cry, but they failed to put out the fire.

In less than 2 minutes, the scenery was engulfed in flames, the upper galleries caught fire. Everyone who was in the theater with difficulty left the premises enveloped in fire. Nobody thought about extinguishing the fire, so quickly it spread from the stage to the auditorium and other premises of the theater.

From the attached investigative materials on the case of the fire, it can be seen that the theater had fire protection equipment, but it was not possible to use them. In particular, during interrogation “on March 15, the caretaker of the Bolshoi Theater Talyzin testified that on March 11 he examined the stage and the tank at seven o’clock in the morning together with non-commissioned officer Vasily Timofeev. The tank was full of water, and carpenters were working on the stage, but he did not notice how many there were. At the end of this, he went to a hydrotherapy establishment, where he had hitherto been treated for illness, and after spending an hour there, he returned home at 8 o'clock. I did not inspect the attics, because no one went there and they were locked, and only carpenters' tools were stored in the closets on the stage. Having stayed at home until 9 o'clock, he went to the box office, but suddenly in the corridor someone shouted that the theater was on fire, why he rushed to the stage, but when he reached the entrance, he saw that it was no longer possible to enter the stage and for this reason it was impossible to dispose of and action of fire hoses. There was no way to lower the Iron Curtain, because for this you need several carpenters, and they all fled; however, the fire entered the hall for spectators primarily not through this place, where the curtain closes, but from the sides through the benoirs and boxes, which quickly caught fire.

There was a fairly large number of scenery on the stage, but it depended not on Talyzin to remove them, but on the machinist, who had carpenters and working people at his disposal.

The fire started in a closet near the stairs on the right side of the stage, he does not know the cause and has no suspicion of anyone.

During the performances, soldiers of the fire brigade were sent to act as fire hoses, who always stood on the sleeves and after the performance even stayed there for the night, and on this occasion, he, Talyzin, did not find any need to have special people for that. In their free time from the performances, such teams were not sent.

Talyzin's testimonies indicate that the theater had a fairly reliable fire protection system for that time: a fire curtain, internal fire water supply, firemen on duty. But this system, unfortunately, functioned only during performances, and the fire started in the morning, when there were relatively few people in the theater.

Regarding the causes of the fire, the well-known composer A.N. Verstovsky wrote in a private letter: “The furnaces were heated at five in the morning, and by eight in the morning all the pipes were closed and inspected. After the chimneys were closed, the stove-makers left for breakfast, which is why it should probably be assumed that it was not the stoves that caused the first fire, especially since, when examining them at the fire site, and as far as it was possible to see the stoves, the pipes and hogs did not crack. Turning to the surviving documents, we see that, despite the most stringent investigation, it was not possible to establish the true cause of the fire. The fire was regarded as a natural disaster, "in which no one was found guilty, and the matter was consigned to oblivion."

The loss to the treasury caused by the fire was estimated at 8 million rubles. Along with the beautiful building of the theater, a precious wardrobe burned down, including a rich collection of expensive French costumes. Few people remembered the seven artisans who died during the fire.

For more than three years, the inhabitants of Moscow were deprived of the joys of theatrical life, previously brought to them by the artists of the Bolshoi Theater. Only on August 20, 1856, in the revived architect A.K. The Kavos theater opened its doors, revealing to the audience the dazzling splendor of a new theatrical masterpiece.

Here are some rather interesting documents taken from the investigation file No. 14184 for 1853 about the fire in the Bolshoi Theater*.

Cont. Moek. Theater.

E. to the director of the imp. Theaters

Kont Moek. Theaters

After a report to V.P., dated March 11, No. 39, about a fire that had occurred in B.T. an inquiry was immediately launched about the reason for this, and as a result of this, the superintendent Talyzin reported with a report, a copy of which is presented to him; the cause of the fire is still not known with accuracy, except for what is reliably known - a closet caught fire under the stairs leading to the women's latrines on the right side of the stage near the bin occupied by your department, in which there are various tools and things belonging to the assistant engineer Dmitry Timofeevich. The flame of fire spread so quickly through the nearby scenery and engulfed the entire stage along the paddocks that in a few minutes it became unacceptable to be extinguished. The cash register and all saved papers were immediately transported to the School's house and placed in the rooms occupied by G. Tambroni's singing class; what exactly was destroyed by fire in the theater building - Mr. Architect was instructed to describe in detail, in order to fulfill which he reported what was burned down: the entire hall for spectators with all the boxes, floors and ceilings, as well as wooden columns that surrounded the places for the district and supported the ceiling, the whole stage with galleries, trusses, grates, stripes with stairs and all the machines, all floors and ceilings of the 3rd floor; in the upper men's restrooms, all ceilings and floors of the 4th floor, in the archives, pantries, dressing rooms, props and music office, all floors and ceilings in the 5th tier of corridors near the boxes, mezzanine above the lower men's restroom, where a small props and a hairdresser's were located, the entire roofing system above the theater, such as rafters with ties, a sheathing, and sheet iron fell to the ground. The lower tank made of boiler iron with a water-lifting machine was completely broken by the weights that fell on them, and the two upper tanks burned down. Parts that survived the fire: a) the entire lower floor with brick vaults, such as: an office, a coffee shop, front rooms and two side vestibules, a round corridor, a lamp room, a guard room, the theater superintendent's apartment and a ticket office, b) the entire second floor with such vaults, the foyer, where the main staircase, all the masquerade halls on both sides, the lower men's and women's latrines, except for wooden partitions, the vestibule on both sides, all the cast-iron staircases on brick vaults leading to the boxes and rayek, cast-iron imperial and ministerial staircases, two wooden, on stone vaults stairs to men's and women's latrines. In all the rooms mentioned, as a precaution, part of the frame was broken out, and in some places part of the floor. The plan of the place of the beginning of burning remains unsent in case of arrival at. in-va; It is currently impossible to determine with accuracy the loss that occurred from the fire, because all the property in that theater was completely destroyed, because nothing could be saved from the extremely strong flame that instantly spread throughout the theater, except for the stage lamps and scenery that were in the scenery shed , which were also taken out to Theater Square for safety. Of the joiners who did not appear on the face, who were at the top of the stage, apparently 6 people died on the spot and one sentry - Private Rumyantsev. Others who were on the stage are called to the investigation; all the externals who came that day for the class of G. Smirnov dispersed and no one came to the office to look for those who did not appear. Then the attitude of Mr. Moek, Chief of Police, dated March 12, No. 6031, was received, that Mr. Moek, military gene. provincial instructed him to immediately order the production of the strictest investigation in the presence of a deputy from the Office on the cause of the fire, which has already been started by the bailiff Fomin of the Tver part, with the collegiate assessor Zernin appointed by the Directorate, and the consequences of this investigation will be reported to the Supreme Court. The concert announced at the Maly Theater on the 12th took place, and for the Disabled, at the request of the Moeks. gene.-lip. - will be given in Ross Hall. Blagor. Meetings.

Ex. Office A. Verstovsky

Skr. Tit.-Counselor Yakunin of the Superintendent of the Bolshoi Theater Talyzin

I have the honor to inform the Office that this March 11 at nine o'clock in the morning I was walking along the lower corridor to the ticket office to make an order for the sale of tickets for the performance of the Kabils, not least smelling a smoky smell, when they suddenly let me know that in a closet arranged with on the right side of the stage, under the stairs leading to the women's latrines, where various carpentry tools and things belonging to the carpenters were stored and to which the scenery adjoined, smoke appeared. When I wanted to run from the corridor leading to the stage, past the orchestra, from the right side to the stage itself, I saw the aforementioned closet and, in general, the entire right side of the stage, from top to bottom, engulfed in flames and in less than two minutes the flames spread through the scenery throughout the upper gallery to the very rafters, so that the very entrance to the stage became completely impossible. At the same time, I have to add that I have no suspicion of setting fire to the theater. At the same time, joiners and assistant machinists Dmitry Timofeev and his son, who always had the key to the aforementioned closet, and non-commissioned officer Andreev on duty were on stage. Caretaker Talyzin

Received on the day of his departure for Moscow Gracious Sovereign Alexander Mikhailovich

From the report presented at the same time to V.V., if you please, you can see about the initial orders made after our disastrous case. It can now almost be said with certainty that the fire started in that closet, or rather in the closet, which is not far from the stairs leading to the women's latrines. In this closet, the assistant engineer Dmitry Timofeev, under his own key, hid petty needs around the stage and, by the way, hid his warm clothes, which this time, having come on stage with other carpenters to prepare for an invalid concert, opened the closet, put down his sheepskin coat, saw from the floor (as he says) fire, - shouting to the duty non-commissioned officers on the stage for help. Those who heard his cry did not have time to approach, when the fire was already engulfed in the close standing scenes, like lightning ran across ... to the other side and up the scenery, then to the dome. In ten minutes, hardly more, the scene was filled with such smoke and fire that this Dmitri Timofeev, burned in some places, does not remember where he came from, having ordered to immediately bleed him, he woke up and now, recalling what had happened, confirmed what was said, without confessing that , whether there was anything stored fuel in this closet and whether he went into the closet with fire. The underground non-commissioned officer, being at the same time under the floor, did not hear any fire or the smell of any fuel, and there were no lamps or lanterns, but ran upstairs at the cry of a fire. The furnaces were heated at five o'clock in the morning and by eight o'clock in the morning all the pipes were closed and inspected by senior non-commissioned officer Vasily Timofeev. After the chimneys were closed, the stove-makers went off to have breakfast, which is why it should probably be assumed that the stoves were not the cause of the first fire, especially since when examining them on the spot after the fire and as far as it was possible to see up to the ash burning down below, the chimneys and hogs did not crack. There were no workers under the floor and there were no lamps, from which I concluded that Dmitry Timofeev, although he does not confess, did he spark in the closet, in which, perhaps, he had a club moss or a soon-replenished (lycopodium) substance that he thought to extinguish hands, which he has several and damaged. Here is my opinion, which I did not convey to the commencement of the investigation for the opening of the commenced case in my own order. The investigation began with Fomin, a bailiff sent from the count, in a relocated office, which, for the first time, he placed next to the room occupied by him. Now I can probably say, I think, that of the 80 externs who were in Smirnov's class, all were saved and are alive and well. Of those who died on the stage, there are six more carpenters at the top, for preparing chandeliers descending for the concert, and one upper sentry, Private Fyodor Rumyantsev. Of the carpenters who could not be found were Cherkassky's yard people: Alexander Alekseev, Alexei Ivanov, the townspeople Stepan Gavrilov, Ivan Stepanov, Alexei Pavlov and the yard of Ms. Zonova - Ivan Petrov. All these details, at the request of the count, were reported to him immediately.

The caretaker Talyzin was completely lost to the point that, getting out of his apartment, he forgot his mother, who was dying of dropsy, in it, which, if the rider Kondratyev had not pulled out, she would have burned down. Not wanting to stop the course of the already announced performances, on the next day of the fire, live pictures were given with a concert at the Maly Theater, where another audience had gathered for 152 rubles. collection.

The men's wardrobe located in B.T. the whole burned down, the female - on the Small - remained. For the paintings, some men's costumes were taken from Peter Strogonov.

I entrusted Ober with the command of the Bolshoi Theater * * about dismantling things after the fire, I think to entrust the burnt iron in the trash to Karakolpakov. Now sentries have been posted near the theater, and now 200 soldiers sent from the Commandant, who, until the final disassembly, will tear the ashes and clean the insides.

The hairdresser Zhelen, who worked with his son in his workshop, was barely saved by his son down a wooden staircase on fire - not only could he save something, but he himself ran out in a shirt.

Some of the boys - externs escaped from the broken window at the top along the paratoner conductor and not a single one was even hurt. Kondratiev's son climbed down the chute through the window. The spreading flames rushed with a strong wind directly towards the school, in which the entire yard and roof were strewn with coals and it was so hot in the school yard that when they carried the chest with money, I was forced to cover the left side of my face from the heat, as if from melted fireplace.

In the fastest time, engulfed in flames on the stage of the grate - the tank located on the left side of the stage burst and when water gushed out of it, flooding the flames of the stage, such smoke rose that it darkened in the nearby houses to the point that it was necessary to give candles. At that moment, the count told me that he could not distinguish the papers from the darkness on his desk, and near the theater it was difficult to determine the color and coat of the horses.

The decorative barn was defended. The woodyard with a huge supply of firewood is also unscathed. The small crew shed near the actors' entrance also survived. In the burnt building, the office and buffet rooms have been preserved.

The police, which began to act, at first got too excited and began to throw furniture and pianos into the broken windows from the female half, which could have been preserved. This is what I can recall in sad despair about the misfortune that has happened, which only God sees - what an impression it is easy on a disturbed soul.

His v-woo - to Mr. Director imp. Theatres. 15/111-1853

Secretary Zernin

I have the honor to inform you. v-va, that yesterday, on March 14, they began to investigate the causes of the fire in the Imperial Bolshoi Theater, for which they gathered in a Tver private house at 10 in the morning: Investigator Lieutenant Colonel Fomin, gendarmerie major Voeikov, criminal lawyer Troitsky, priest Alekseevskaya in Glinishchi Church Ioan Troparsky and I, as a deputy on the part of the Directorate and T., began to interrogate under oath, two police officers, the watchman who stood on watch at the booth near the Prokofy Dorofeev theater and Mikhail Prokofiev, who was on the watchtower of the Tver part, of which the first testified that at half past ten in the morning on March 11 he heard a strong blow that shook the building of the Theater and the ground near it, then he saw from the windows of the 2nd floor of the theater facing the house of Mr. Khomyakov, first thick smoke, and then flame and that soon after this the pipes of the Tver part arrived, and Mikhail Prokofiev - that standing on the watchtower he was suddenly surrounded by thick smoke and then heard a blow from the side of the Bolshoi Theater, as a result of which he threw out a fire sign and the pipes immediately began to gather.

Without an oath: The watchman of the theater, who was under the stage: - that after heating the stoves and leaving the stokers, at 8 o'clock in the morning he locked the lower room and went under the stage to the place where the lamps for the front light are lit and sitting down to rest, he suddenly heard a thud and a cry: save yourself, we're on fire! - ran onto the stage, saw a flame on the right side and rushed to run, burned his face. After what happened, he doesn't know. Carpenter Gordey Andreev - that after breakfast he came to work on the small stage and, having gone to urinate, he met carpenter Ivan Petrov, rushing with a watering can for water, who told him that the stage was on fire, after which he saw that the backstage and the curtain hanging on top were engaged , which is why he rushed back and ran out of the black entrance, by the guardhouse, into the street.

Joiners: Alexander Ivanov and Dmitry Prokofiev - of whom the latter showed the same thing as Gordey, Alexander Ivanov - that he did not go to have breakfast, but to watch how the criminal was being taken along Tverskaya and, having come on stage, began to tell the carpenters who were already here what he had seen, when he suddenly heard shouts: “fire”, he ran out of the wings on the left side onto the stage and saw that the right wings and the curtain at the top were on fire, which is why he rushed out to save his life. All the interrogated carpenters testified that they did not hear a strong blow, but there was noise, but they don’t know how and when it caught fire,

Col. Asya. Vasily Zernov.

Minister, Count Adlerberg

From the director of imp. Theatres.

Arrived in Moscow At 9:35 and at 10 to the place of the fire. The stage and boxes do not exist, the side halls and corridors of all tiers, which had vaults, survived. The dome of the auditorium with the chandelier burned down. Died: one watchman who rushed to open the tap of the tank and 6 working carpenters. The driver's assistant was burned. Count Zakrevsky ordered an investigation from the police. Until now, the reason is not open, the chimneys are in good order. What I know, I will convey. The theater superintendent was arrested.

Gideon.

Interrogation protocol.

During interrogation on March 15, Overseer B.T. tit. owls. Talyzin testified: 1] that on March 11 he inspected the stage and the tank at 7 o'clock in the morning, together with un.-off. Vasily Timofeev. The tank was full of water and carpenters were working on the stage, but he did not notice how many there were. At the end of this, he went to a hydropathic institution, where he had hitherto taken advantage of his illness, and after spending an hour there, he returned home at 8 o'clock. I did not inspect the attics, because no one went there and they were locked, and only carpenters' tools were stored in the closets on the stage. Having stayed at home until 9 a.m., he went to the ticket office, but suddenly in the corridor, no one knew who shouted that the theater was on fire, why he rushed to the stage, but when he reached the entrance he saw that it was already impossible to enter the stage and for this reason it was impossible to dispose of the action of firefighters sleeves. There was no way to lower the Iron Curtain, because for this you need several carpenters, and they all fled; however, the fire entered the hall for spectators, first of all, not through this place, where the curtain closes, but from the sides through the benoirs and boxes, which quickly caught fire. Seeing that it was no longer possible to stop the fire, he rushed to save the affairs of the office and the cashier and does not remember whether he sent the police to know about the fire.

2] There was a fairly large number of scenery on the stage, but it depended not on Talyzin to remove them, but on the machinist, who had carpenters and working people at his disposal.

3] The blow was heard, but nevertheless not so strong as to shake the building and the ground, and believes that it came from a burst reservoir or a fallen chandelier.

4] During Talyzin's tour of the stage, there was no smell of smoke. He has no suspicions of anyone to keep gunpowder or something like that. There were no rehearsals on stage that day, but the pavilion had already been set up and there were musical instruments for the concert scheduled that day in favor of Mr. Stutzmann.

5] The fire started in a closet near the stairs on the right side of the stage, he does not know the cause and has no suspicion of anyone.

During the performances, soldiers of the fire brigade were sent from the police to act with their sleeves, who always stood with their sleeves and after the performance even stayed there for the night, and therefore, on occasion, he Talyzin did not find any need to have special people for that. In their free time from the performances, such teams were not sent.

Water pipe engineer, UK. filed by Macmillan with the Director and T.

According to rumors spreading in Moscow about B.T. explosions, I have the honor to explain to. in-woo that are under B.T. the tanks had a lot of conductors, consisting of lead pipes for conducting water in all directions of the building, the number of which was up to 500 fathoms. For the most part, they passed along the walls on the stage and under the floor, and from a strong fire, the water in them, when it boiled, should have formed strong vapors, which, when trying to free themselves according to physical laws, tore the pipes, which should have caused a terrible noise and crackling like shots from the guns.

Alexander Mac-MShap

Ministry of I.D.

office

Branch 3

Director of the imp. Theaters

Mr. Moscow military governor-general, in his attitude of October 29, informed me that the case about the fire that took place on March 11 this year, in the Bolshoi Theater, which had arrived at the local criminal chamber, had been resolved by it and concluded by this decision: since the causes of the aforementioned According to the investigation, the fire was not opened, no suspicion was expressed in deliberate arson, none of the officials of the directorate was brought to trial, then this case is based on 97 Art. Code on the order to stop further proceedings and that such a decision was approved by him, Count Zakrevskiy.

I have the honor to inform your in-in about this.

Minister of imp. court of Count Adlerberg.

The catastrophic fire at the Bolshoi Theater did not significantly affect the improvement of the fire-prevention condition of theaters. This is written by the famous Moscow theater-goer V.M. Golitsyn in his memoirs:

“As for fire-fighting measures, no one at that time thought or thought about this. So, for example, in the Bolshoi Theater there were internal wooden stairs from the stage to the dressing rooms, moreover, they were placed among the hanging cardboard scenery and backstage. One can imagine what would happen if a fire broke out during the performance! And at the Maly Theater, the audience was even more at risk in the event of a fire and panic. Thus, the passages from the parterre and from the boxes were very narrow in themselves, and, moreover, they were half-blocked with stands for selling sweets and fruits. Back in the 80s, the then Moscow fireman told me that for him the real nightmare was the thought of a fire during a performance at the Maly Theater. Only after the fire in the Vienna theater, which killed several hundred people, did the theater workers think about appropriate measures, which, however, remained until very recently half-measures.

In Russia, according to far from complete data, it burned down in the 19th century. 30 theaters and circuses, including in Moscow in 1882, the Solodovnikov Theater completely burned down. The most catastrophic fires took place in St. Petersburg, where 126 people died during a performance in a booth on February 14, 1836; in Berdichev during a fire in the circus on January 13, 1883, more than 300 people died.

And the biggest suspicion is the date of birth itself. Why? Here is an example... In 1925, the Bolshoi Theater widely celebrated its centenary, that is, it counted its foundation since 1825. However, 25 years later, in 1951, the theater, having gained years of age, celebrated its 175th anniversary.

240 or 250?

And the whole point is what date is considered the foundation of the theater. The current Bolshoi is the third theater building (1780, 1825, 1856). After all, in fact, the history of the Bolshoi Theater is the history of fires. Mansions burned, new ones were built in their place. And this is not surprising. Getting acquainted with the history of almost any theater building, everywhere you can find information that in such and such a year the building was on fire. The main cause of the emergency was, of course, lighting - first candles and oil lamps, and then gas jets. So the theatrical and office premises of the theater, where costumes, scenery, props were stored, were just a powder keg, which is just waiting for that same fatal spark to appear ... Therefore, the date of birth of the hero of the day directly depends on which of these three buildings we we consider it a real Bolshoi Theater (all of them are actually built on the same foundation). These disputes are still not over. But first things first.

March 28, 1776 - this is the date emblazoned on every ticket. It was on this day 240 years ago that the Moscow Provincial Prosecutor, Prince P.V. Urusov, single-handedly received the privilege to maintain the Russian theater. The privilege was issued by Catherine II, and thanks to her, Urusov was exempt from tax, but was obliged to “build at his own expense in five years, as directed by the Police, a theater with all accessories, stone, with such external decoration that it could serve as an ornament to the city, and moreover home for public masquerades, comedies and comic operas. This document is recognized today as a birth certificate.

However, modern researchers do not agree with this. In fact, according to their calculations, this year the theater should celebrate its 250th anniversary. Professor L.M. Starikova found documents that showed that Urusov’s privilege was far from the first ... Starikova also named the name of the first director appointed in Moscow to manage a public theater - this is Colonel Nikolai Sergeevich Titov. It was he who received the wooden theater building on the Yauza near the Lefortovo Palace, which was called the "Big Opera House on the Yauza", or the Golovinsky Theater. In this very place on February 21, 1766, the first performance of the future troupe of the Bolshoi Theater was shown. So there is every reason to call the date of birth 1766. However, like people, changing the date of birth of theaters is not so easy.

Therefore, let us return to Urusov. This man, although he loved the theater, was rather far from it. That is why he invited himself an assistant - a foreigner, Mikhail Maddox, an "equilibrist", a theater mechanic and a "lecturer", who demonstrated various kinds of optical devices and other "mechanical" miracles.

As we remember, the main condition for the privilege was the construction of a new building for their own money. Fulfilling the obligation, the co-owners purchased from Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky a house with land on Bolshaya Petrovsky Street in the parish of the Church of the Savior on Copies. This land at that time was the worst in Moscow - a low, swampy bank of the Neglinka River, constantly flooded with water. It was there that the first building of the theater was erected on piles. Until the completion of the new building, performances were staged at the Opera House on Znamenka until February 26, 1780, when the fire destroyed the theater “due to the negligence of the lower servants”.

The troupe at that time was small and instead of the hundreds of artists and attendants who work in the theater today, there were only 13 actors, 9 actresses, 4 dancers, 3 dancers with a choreographer and 13 musicians.

This is what the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater looked like before the fire.

Fictitious Curse of the Plague Cemetery

In the same year, a few days before the fire on Znamenka, the Moskovskiye Vedomosti newspaper published a message: “The office of the Znamensky Theater, always trying to please the respectable public, through this announces that a stone house is being built again for the theater on Bolshaya Petrovsky Street near Kuznetsky bridge, which will end by the opening, of course, this year 1780 in the month of December. So what is this place on which the Bolshoi Theater was built?

Recently, some artists have heard that the theater was built on the site of a plague cemetery. It is by this circumstance that they explain a whole series of unpleasant and criminal events that the theater had to endure quite recently. Is it so? For clarification, I turn to the head of the Bolshoi Museum, Candidate of Art Criticism Lidia Kharina.

Those who tell this should read the documents better, Lidia Glebovna tells me. - I can say for sure: there could be no plague cemetery here! When I looked at the plans of the 18th century, I saw that where the theater now stands is the Lobanov-Rostovsky lands. It was private property. Why did they buy this land? After all, they did not buy the cemetery land - this is impossible. We have an Orthodox country, burials were made at churches. There was a church of the Savior on Copies nearby. But in private estates, and even with swampy terrain, there could not be any graves. In addition, special cemeteries outside the city were organized for plague burials.

What was in this place before the Bolshoi? There is an assumption that part of the walls of the Lobanov-Rostovsky house, which burned in 1773 and stood “without a ceiling and a roof,” was included in the new construction of the theater. Those. already after the plague in Moscow, according to the conclusion of the police architect Karin, it is known that there was a house that burned down.

Nothing has changed in 240 years

A large three-story stone building is being built by the tailor's son, the architect Christian Ivanovich Rozberg. Maddox, who by this time had bought the privilege from Urusov, became the sole owner, and on December 30, Moskovskie Vedomosti reported the opening of the Petrovsky Theater, overlooking Petrovka Street. Actually, hence the original name (later it will be called the Old Petrovsky Theater). On the same evening, the audience was given a performance that included “Prologue to the opening of the Petrovsky Theater”, and with it a large pantomimic ballet “Magic Shop”, staged by L. Paradis to the music of J. Starzer, and “Wanderer’s Dialogue to the opening of the new Petrovsky Theater » works by Ablesimov.

“This huge building,” the Muscovites informed the press, “built for popular pleasure and amusement, accommodates one hundred and ten boxes, not counting the galleries.” These lodges, of the Italian system, were located in several tiers and were completely isolated from each other by solid partitions. They gave up, and each of the owners furnished the box according to his own taste, upholstered with damask, pasted over with wallpaper, brought his own furniture. The picture was - you can't imagine more colorful. In addition, visibility, as now from some lodges, left much to be desired. But such is the Italian system. “You can’t see anything from one half of the places, you can’t see anything from one third of the other half” ... In general, nothing has changed in 240 years!

In addition to the auditorium, there were many places in the building where the audience could relax during intermissions and even dance after the end of the performances. Here were the old and newly built "masquerade halls", "card room", several "coal" offices, where those who did not want to tempt fate at the green card table retired, but could, for example, negotiate with a partner.

Not only operas and ballets were staged here, as they are now, but also dramas. Both “masquerade parties” and “verb bazaars” were held here.

Swamp with frogs

Gradually, Maddox began to have financial difficulties, and on October 22, 1805, before the performance of the opera "The Dnieper Mermaid" "due to the negligence of the wardrobe master" a fire broke out in the theater near the stage.

So, as choreographer Adam Glushkovsky writes, “from 1805 to 1823, burnt stone walls stood on Petrovsky Theater Square, in which birds of prey lived. And among them was a swamp in which there were many frogs. In the summer, in the morning and evening, their cries were heard from there for a long distance.

In 1806, as the same Glushkovsky notes, the theater "was taken with the troupe into the department of the treasury for debts." The wanderings of artists began. And in 1808, the famous Karl Rossi built for this troupe a new temporary theater building on the Arbat, approximately in the place where the "sitting" monument to Gogol is now located. The theater was completely wooden, on a stone foundation. This first and only building in Moscow by Rossi already accommodated up to 3 thousand spectators and became the first building that was set on fire when the French approached Moscow in 1812.

In 1816, the Commission for Buildings announced a competition for a project, the prerequisite of which was to include the walls of the charred Maddox Theater in the new building. Funds were allocated, but they turned out to be less than the first draft made by Andrey Mikhailov suggested. So the plan needed to be redone. She was entrusted to Osip Bove.

The theater was opened on January 6, 1825. At the opening, the prologue "The Triumph of the Muses" written specially for the occasion in verse (by M. Dmitrieva) was performed with choirs and dances to the music of A. Alyabyev, A. Verstovsky and F. Scholz, as well as the ballet "Sandrillon" staged by a dancer and choreographer F.V. Gyullen-Sor invited from France to the music of her husband F. Sor. The Muses triumphed over the fire that destroyed the old theater building, and, led by the Genius of Russia, whose role was played by the twenty-five-year-old Pavel Mochalov, they revived a new temple of art from the ashes. The building made a stunning impression on Muscovites. And although the theater was really very large, it could not accommodate everyone.

By the way, the name "Big" appeared just then. Indeed, in terms of size, the theater was considered the largest building in Moscow (with the exception of the Senate) and the second in Europe after La Scala in Milan. But then they said this: "The Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater."

Mysteries of the quadriga of Apollo

“Even closer, on a wide square, rises the Petrovsky Theater, a work of the latest art, a huge building, made according to all the rules of taste, with a flat roof and a majestic portico, on which towers the alabaster Apollo, standing on one leg in an alabaster chariot, motionlessly driving three alabaster horses and looking with annoyance at the Kremlin wall, which jealously separates it from the ancient shrines of Russia! - the cadet of the hussar regiment Mikhail Lermontov wrote enthusiastically about the architectural features of this building in his youthful essay “Panorama of Moscow”.

Indeed, the main decoration of the theater was considered to be the sculptural composition of the chariot of Apollo, located in the arch and made of alabaster. Yes, yes ... Not everyone knows about it, but the second building of the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater also had its own "quadriga"! “The sculptural group crowning the portico, in contrast to its profile location at Mikhailov’s, was placed frontally, and the quadriga of soaring horses, restrained by Apollo, thus seemed to rapidly break out of the arch.” So, in any case, we read in the book on the history of this structure of the researchers A.I. Kuznetsov and V.Ya. Libson.

But let's reread Lermontov. In his description of the horses, Apollo has three! The sculptural group with 3 horses is also mentioned on the official website of the Bolshoi Theatre. However, in numerous drawings of contemporaries, we will see the image of a quadriga, i.e. chariot drawn by four horses! Riddles again...

The building stood for almost 30 years, but in the early morning of March 11, 1853, a fire broke out again. Even the ingeniously invented fire extinguishing systems of Bove did not save. They just didn't turn on. People jumped from the roof. Thank God, they managed to save the boys' choir - 40 people. The theater burned for 3 days! In fact, only 8 columns remained from it, which were inherited by the next building. This is the oldest part of the current Bolshoi Theatre.

Kavos forever

The author of the building, which we call today the Bolshoi Theater, was Albert Kavos. He was born in the family of the composer and conductor, "director of music" of the imperial theaters Katerino Cavos, and this circumstance subsequently predetermined the narrow specialization chosen by the architect - the architecture of spectacular buildings. In 1836, Kavos rebuilt the Stone Theater in St. Petersburg. In 1859 he rebuilt the interior of the Mikhailovsky Theatre. The last work of Kavos is the rebuilding of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg in the same year from the circus building built by him in 1847-1848.

Under what conditions did Kavos build his brainchild? In March 1855, Emperor Nicholas I died. Since the coronation of the new emperor always took place in Moscow, and the coronation celebrations and festivities took place in the Bolshoi Theater, the building had to be restored in a short time. And already on May 14, 1855, the Kavos project was approved.

Big became even higher - 10 floors up. The auditorium also became a tier higher. It acquired other colors - it became white and gold with red and crimson draperies. There were many windows upstairs. At one time there was even an open gallery!

Well, what is the Bolshoi Theater without the Apollo chariot? And instead of the old one, which died in a fire, Peter Klodt created a new quadriga with Apollo, now known to the whole world, from a metal alloy coated with red copper. Naturally, Apollo also had a fig leaf at that time, hiding his manhood and lost somewhere at the beginning of the 20th century, along with a wreath that the solar god held in his hand, and a buckle. So in Soviet times, the Bolshoi Theater Apollo appeared in all its natural glory and was depicted in this form on banknotes. And only in our puritanical times, namely 6 years ago, after a recent reconstruction, the buckle, wreath and leaf were returned to their rightful places.

On August 20, 1856, in the presence of Tsar Alexander II, Bellini's opera I Puritani opened the building that we today call the Bolshoi Theater.

Petr SAVELYEV

Moscow was at a glance
Visible from the fire tower.
Fire!
The horses flew headlong,
Like a flame, they themselves are hot.

On Lent on March 11, 1853, the Mother See was agitated by a rumor about the fire of the Imperial Bolshoi Theater. Crowds of people poured into the center of the city on Theater Square. There, in the abyss of fire, the creation of the architect Beauvais, infinitely dear to Muscovites, perished.

And it all started early in the morning, when the streets, powdered with light snow, were still deserted, but ordinary theatrical life had already taken up in the Bolshoi: carpenters were setting up scenery for the evening performance on the stage; the stokers, having finished with the furnaces, put candles in large chandeliers; the elderly caretaker of the theater Talyzin completed his morning tour of the auditorium, stage and other premises, and then went to a hydrotherapy establishment. He returned to the theater at about nine o'clock and, heading to the box office, he heard a loud cry: "Fire! Fire! The theater is on fire!" Talyzin rushed headlong onto the stage, but this path was closed: the entire right side was on fire, the backstage, the curtain, and the scenery ignited. Nobody put out the fire. All the stage workers, assistant driver Timofeev, duty non-commissioned officer Andreev fled in a panic. Talyzin rushed off to save the affairs of the office and the box office - no one bothered to call the firemen. The nearest team was located in the Tver police station, a few minutes' walk from the Bolshoi Theatre. On its high-rise tower, day and night, in heat and cold, there was always a fireman, vigilantly looking around the surrounding houses and streets. At ten o'clock in the morning, the guard at the watchtower saw the appearance of smoke on the roof of the theater and raised the alarm. A few minutes later, a horse-drawn fire wagon flew out of the open gates of the fire station with a ringing and roar, turned around at the governor-general's house and rushed towards Okhotny Ryad. A red flag hoisted on the watchtower - a signal to collect all parts for a big fire.

The departure of the firefighters on alarm was an impressive and beautiful sight, although not safe for the townspeople. Sparkling with dazzling copper, an unstoppable avalanche rushed to the place of fire horse carts, sweeping away everything in their path. The streets and squares were filled with an alarming rumble, the clatter of sparkling horseshoes, the ringing of bells, the snoring of lathered horses, the shrieks of wagons, the screams and groans of passers-by. In front of the fire wagon, a rider (leap) galloped dashingly, with a piercing sound of a trumpet, instilling alarm in the oncoming ones and clearing the way for the horse wagon, sparkling with copper. Behind him flew, harnessed by a pair of magnificent trotters, the light sleigh of a mustachioed fireman with a furman on high goats. Behind the fireman, four furious horses galloped, as if through air, a heavy line with a team of tall axemen. And then, biting the bit, dropping white flakes of foam, mighty horses in sparkling harness raced a whole string of winter carts with heavy filling pipes, hooks, ladders, barrels of water. On the swiftly sliding wagons, calmly, like fiery gods, stood, stretched out in the front, firefighters in copper helmets, dressed in dark tight semi-caftans, girded with glossy black belts and sword belts. The sun played victoriously on axes and helmets with crests, a heavy embroidered banner floated overhead in the wind. Woe to the one who hesitated to get out of the way of the firemen: under the hooves of wildly galloping horses, injury or death awaited him. When the firefighters rolled up to the theater, their brilliant appearance immediately dimmed - they turned out to be completely powerless in front of the flaming colossus, their "fire-extinguishing tools" turned out to be so imperfect and primitive.

The first report of the incident appeared in the press on the pages of the 32nd issue of Moskovskie Vedomosti on March 14, 1853: “Upon the arrival of firefighters, the inside of the theater burned, masses of fire and smoke flew out of the windows and onto the roof of it, and, despite all the efforts of the firefighters there was no way for the teams gathered at the scene of the fire to cease fire and even weaken its strength; the entire interior of the theater building, except for the side halls, and the mezzanine and rooms on the lower floor, which housed the office, cash desk and buffet, completely burned down.

The eyewitness is a famous writer and an inimitable master of oral stories from folk life I.O. Gorbunov recalled: “On March 11, the Bolshoi Moscow Theater burned down. The fire started in the morning. It was snowing a little. I was on that fire. It was strange to watch how the firefighters with their "syringes" circled around this giant in flames. The fireman, firemen, firefighters furiously shouted in hoarse, bestial voices: "Meshchanskaya, pump!"

The fire chimneys of the Meshchanskaya section begin to shoot a jet of water from their sleeve, as thick as an index finger. They shake it for two or three minutes - there is no water.

Water! - shouts the fireman. - Sidorenko! I'll bury in the coffin!

Sidorenko, black as coal, bulging his eyes, turns the barrel.

Sretenskaya! Watch out!

Audience, pull back!

No one is moving, and there was nowhere to move: everyone is standing at the walls of the Maly Theater. The private bailiff ordered it so, for his own amusement. He stood, stood, and thinks: "Let me shout!" - and shouted ... Everything is better ...

Back, back! Pull back! - in a politely contemptuous tone, the elegantly dressed adjutant of Count Zakrevsky shouts, assuming the role of a policeman. Everyone stands silent. The adjutant begins to get angry.

- I will order now to fill everyone with water! - the adjutant gets excited.

Water is now a hundred rubles bucket! It’s better to order the kiyatra to be poured, - is heard from the crowd. Laughter.

Feat Marina Vasily Gavrilovich Marin, a peasant in the Yaroslavl province, was in Moscow passing from St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in roofing work. He witnessed how three carpenters of the theater, fleeing from the fire, jumped out onto the roof. Two of them rushed down and "killed themselves on the pavement to death", and the third - the carpenter Dmitry Petrov - remained on the roof, where he was threatened with imminent death. The fire brigades did not have the means to help him. Marin, leaving the crowd, volunteered to save the dying man. On the stairs, immediately given to him by firefighters, Marin climbed to the capitals of the columns of the main entrance, then climbed onto the drainpipe and from it on a pole gave the dying man a rope. Petrov, fixing the end of the rope on the roof, descended along it to the drain, and then down the stairs to the ground.

Two fantals nearby, you can't get enough of them. They drive to the Moscow River for water. How soon will you appease such a fire! Look look! Wow!

The roof collapsed, sending up a myriad of sparks and a cloud of thick smoke.

And the giant burns and burns, exposing huge fiery tongues from the windows, as if teasing the Moscow fire brigade with its "syringes". By eight o'clock in the evening, both the authorities, and the firemen, and the horses were exhausted and stood.

Another eyewitness to the fire testifies: “A strong fire lasted about two days, and the entire fire ended at least a week and a half later.

After the fire, the interior and the auditorium presented a sad and at the same time majestic picture of complete destruction. It was a charred skeleton, but the skeleton of a giant, inspiring involuntary respect. These remains spoke loudly of the past glory, the former greatness of the Bolshoi Theater."

Gorbunov, in his story, calls inlet fire pipes (manually operated pumps) "syringes", which formed the basis of the armament of the Moscow fire brigade, which consisted of 17 fire departments, with a total number of 1560 personnel. Tentatively, we can assume that at least 50 fire pipes were concentrated on the fire, but there was not enough water in the theater area, it had to be transported from the Moskva River, the icy banks of which turned out to be difficult for horse-drawn barrel passages to fill the barrels from the holes.

Later, in 1892, in Moscow, according to the project and under the supervision of engineer N.G. Zimin, a 108 verst water pipe was built, on which fire hydrants were installed, which immediately increased the efficiency of fire extinguishing.

The difficulties of firefighting were associated not only with the difficulty of delivering water, but also with poor roads. There was a smooth wooden end road only on a small section of Tverskaya Street, near the house of the Governor-General. The rest of the streets were paved with uneven cobblestones, and the outlying streets and lanes of Moscow were buried in mud in spring and autumn. The winter snow was not removed from the streets, deep depressions and potholes were formed, along which heavy sleigh carts of firefighters advanced like boats on sea waves.

In summer, the rapid run of horse-drawn fire moves on iron tires along the cobblestone pavement produced an unimaginable knock and rumble, glass trembled in the windows, cupboards with utensils shook, and the townsfolk rushed to the windows or ran out into the street to see the rushing firemen. The beauty and power of the fire wagon was horses. Each fire department was proud of its horses, which were diligently looked after. Aesthetic perfection and outward splendor equestrian fire carriage of the Moscow fire brigade reached in the 60s of the nineteenth century.

The Moscow police chief at that time was N.I. Ogarev, an old cavalryman and a passionate lover of firefighting. He arranged for the delivery of very good horses to the fire departments of the city. It was impossible not to admire them - they were so beautiful, frisky and well-fed. Ogarev twice a year visited Voronezh and Tambov horse fairs and factories, chose the best horses, brought them to Moscow, where he personally distributed them to fire departments and constantly monitored their departure. It was to him that the Moscow fire brigade owed the selection of horses by color: each part had horses of a strictly defined color, and Muscovites learned from a distance which fire brigade was rushing to the fire on alarm.

But back to 1853. Soon after the fire of the Bolshoi Theater, on the orders of the Governor-General of Moscow, Count Zakrevsky, the most rigorous investigation of its "root cause" was carried out. Most of the witnesses interviewed testified that the fire started in a closet located on the right side of the stage, under the stairs leading to the women's lavatories. In the closet were kept various tools and things of theatrical carpenters and joiners. In the same closet, the assistant stage engineer Dmitry Timofeev kept his warm clothes. In the morning, on the day of the fire, preparing for the evening concert, he opened the closet door to put a sheepskin coat, and, seeing fire in it, shouted: "Fire! Fire!", Then he rushed onto the stage. Several workers ran to his cry, but they failed to put out the fire.

Such machines created water pressure 8-10 times greater than hand pumps, which allowed the water jet to hit a distance of up to 36 meters. They were able to draw water directly from reservoirs, making it unnecessary to bring water to the fire site. The performance of the most advanced models reached 2000 liters per minute. Steam engines had a number of specific features that made their practical use difficult: they had to be taken out on special heavy horse-drawn carts, which were not very suitable for off-road conditions at that time, it took a considerable time to heat up the steam pump, and it was ready to supply water to the hoses no earlier than after 15-20 minutes, i.e. when the necessary steam pressure was created in the boiler, therefore, sometimes the steam pump began to be heated up on the way to the fire, moreover, the introduction of steam pumps in Russia was held back by their extremely high price.

The testimonies of Talyzin and other employees testify that the theater had a fairly reliable fire protection system for that time. It included: a metal curtain separating the stage from the auditorium, fire-fighting plumbing and firemen on duty. But these fire safety measures, unfortunately, functioned only during performances, and the fire started in the morning, when there were relatively few people in the theater.

Here are some interesting details: the internal fire hydrants were powered from a metal tank installed on the stage grates. During the fire, the tank burst, water flooded the blazing stage, which caused a lot of smoke. Thick clouds of black smoke enveloped not only the burning theater, but also the surrounding houses "to the point that candles were lit there. It was difficult to determine the color and hair of the horses near the fire." And further: "The firefighters, who began to act, at first got too excited and began to throw musical instruments, pianos, and furniture into the street through the broken windows, which could have been preserved."

But back to finding out the cause of the fire. Manager of the Moscow Imperial Theatres, famous composer, author of the opera "Askold's Grave" A.N. Verstovsky wrote in a private letter: “The stoves were heated at five o’clock in the morning, and by eight o’clock all the chimneys were inspected and closed. that, while examining them at the site of the fire, and as far as it was possible to see the stoves, pipes, and hogs, they did not crack.

Turning to the surviving documents of the investigative case, we see that, despite the most rigorous investigation, it was not possible to establish the root cause. The fire was regarded as a natural disaster, "in which no one was found guilty, and the case, on the instructions of Count Zakrevsky, was consigned to oblivion."

The loss caused to the treasury by the fire was estimated at 8 million rubles. Along with the beautiful building of the theater, a precious wardrobe burned down, including the richest collection of expensive French costumes. Few people remembered the seven artisans who died during the fire.

For more than three years, the inhabitants of Moscow were deprived of the opportunity to enjoy the art of the Bolshoi Theater troupe. Only on August 20, 1856, revived by the architect A.K. Kavos, the theater hospitably opened its doors, revealing its dazzling splendor to the audience. To this day, the State Academic Bolshoi Opera and Ballet Theater majestically rises on Theater Square.

FIRE AND RESTORATION OF THE BUILDING BY ARCHITECT KAVOS

For twenty-eight years, the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater adorned Moscow, was its pride. On a cloudy frosty morning on March 11, 1853, a fire broke out in the theater from an unknown cause. The fire started on the stage, in a closet under the wooden stairs leading to the artists' restrooms. One of the workers, in need of tools, opened the door to the closet, from which flames burst out. It instantly spread to the scenery, the curtain and began to spread rapidly inside the theater. On the stage at that time there were classes with seventy pupils of the children's theater school. Only thanks to the resourcefulness of two ministers, it was possible to lead out and save the children rushing about in fright. Seven workers - joiners of the theater - died in the fire.
The flame quickly engulfed the entire building (Fig. 47). A strong wind fanned the flames of the fire. Soon there was a huge puff of smoke above the building, which was clearly visible from the far ends of Moscow. Long tongues of flame flew out of the windows.
“It was terrible to look at this giant in flames,” contemporaries recalled.
The fire raged with particular force on the stage and in the auditorium. The temperature was so high that the cast-iron columns that supported the mezzanine bed melted (recollection of the director of the Maly Theater Solovyov). Despite the frost, the snow melted all over the area.
The complete helplessness of the Moscow fire brigades, which did not have high ladders and traveled to the Moscow River for water, was revealed. By two o'clock in the afternoon, all the internal premises of the theater were burned out. A strong fire lasted about two days, the whole fire lasted over a week. The view of the dying theater made a terrible impression. “When it burned,” recalls an eyewitness, “it seemed to us that before our eyes a dear person was dying, endowing us with wonderful thoughts and feelings.”
The death of the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater was marked by the release of popular prints, lithographs, scarves with the image of a burning theater and a description of the heroic deed of the Yaroslavl peasant, roofer Vasily Marin. Arriving for the first time in his life in Moscow and running to the fire, he saw how three artisans of the theater, jumping out of the upper floor window onto the roof of the pediment of the portico, rushed along it, looking for salvation from the flames surrounding them. Two of them, having come to despair, rushed down and crashed to death, the third took refuge from the smoke and heat in a place on the roof from where the wind blew the flames. Choking on the smoke, he screamed for help. It was impossible to get off the roof - there were no high stairs.
Marin volunteered to save the dying man. He was given a ladder that only reached the capitals of the columns. From there, along the drainpipe, which cracked and bent under his weight, he climbed to the ledge, on a pole gave the dying man a rope and helped him down.
The fire destroyed all the wooden parts of the building, that is, all the interiors of the theater. Only the charred stone walls and columns of the portico have survived. The roof over the entire building collapsed, all the outer cornices fell. Only the side halls and the lower floor, where the buffet, offices and cash desks were located, survived the fire.
The sketch made after the fire (Fig. 48) shows that most of the stone walls survived, only the arch of the back wall of the stage collapsed, which caused the top part of the back facade to fall. The figure also clearly shows preserved cast-iron brackets protruding from the wall surrounding the hall.
All theatrical property, cars, valuable collections of costumes perished in the fire (including the rarest collection of caftans embroidered with gold and silver of Catherine's nobles, a precious collection of unique musical instruments, part of a wonderful theater library, scenery, props, etc. The cost of everything that died, not counting the building and property owned by private individuals was estimated at about a million rubles, but Muscovites were even more oppressed by the consciousness of the loss of such a wonderful theater.
Shortly after the fire, a closed competition was announced for the construction of a new theater building. It was attended by Professor K. Ton, the architect of Moscow theaters A. Nikitin and the chief architect of the imperial theaters A. Kavos. Previously, they carried out a survey of the destroyed building. A specially formed commission for the consideration of projects at the General Directorate of Railways and Public Buildings chose the project of A. Kavos. May 14, 1953 this project was approved.
An estimate was made for the restoration and reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater, but the Crimean War that began soon after prevented the restoration of the building. Only in 1855 was a temporary roof built according to the project presented by Kavos. On May 3, 1855, the general project of Kavos for the reconstruction of the theater was approved. On May 17, work began, but they only fully unfolded after the conclusion of peace.
Albert Kavos (1800 - 1863), son of the composer and conductor of the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theater, academician of architecture and chief architect of the imperial theaters, was known for his restructuring of almost all the largest theaters in Russia. At the beginning of his practical activity, he was an assistant to the architect C. Rossi in the construction of the Alexandria Theater. This largely determined his future activities. Feeling a penchant for theatrical architecture, Kavos was mainly engaged in the alteration and reconstruction of the largest theaters in St. Petersburg and Moscow. He deeply studied this area of ​​architecture and became one of the best experts on the acoustics of theater halls. In 1847, Cavos published in Paris "Guidelines for the construction of theaters. Cavos rebuilt the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg (from the circus he had previously built), the Bolshoi Kamenny Theater of the architect Tom de Thomon, the Mikhailovsky, Alexandria, and the wooden Kamennoostrovsky. In addition to theaters, he rebuilt the Main St. Petersburg Post Office and built several mansions.
Considering the interiors of theaters remodeled by Kavos, it should be noted that he created the style of architectural decoration of the theater that was characteristic of that time. Being a good draftsman, but not having much talent and taste, Kavos had the ability to please the desires of the court. His work reflects the decline of Russian architecture that began in the 40s of the 19th century.
In his works, Kavos took little account of the architecture of the theaters he was remodeling and unceremoniously changed them to his liking. Most of the theaters he remade are surprisingly monotonous in architecture.
The architecture of Kavos is a heavy, monotonously scattered abundance of gilding and stucco. This is the same, with small variations, the decoration of the royal boxes, an elaborate combination of cupids, cartouches, kokoshniks, volutes, etc.
At the same time, all the theaters rebuilt by Kavos have greatly improved in terms of acoustics and visibility from various locations. The capacity of theaters has also increased. This was a big step forward in the development of the Russian theater, making it the leading theater of that time in this respect. Kavos had great connections at court and, with the help of patronage, easily defeated his rivals in the competition for the restoration of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow.
More interesting from an architectural point of view was the project of K. Ton (Fig. 49). It is interesting in its grandiose side porticos, somewhat reminiscent of the famous project of the Bolshoi Stone Theater in St. Petersburg, architect. Quarenghi. Basically, the schemes of the old foyer and auditorium were preserved. The interpretation of tiers in height, parapets, orders (caryatids of the benoir, mezzanine arcades and colonnades of various heights in tiers of lodges) is varied. The completion of the hall with a dome of significant curvature cannot be considered successful either from the point of view of its acoustics or from the point of view of its composition.
The restoration of the theater began with the excavation of the ruins. At the end of May 1855, the reconstruction of the building itself began. All work was led by Kavos together with the architects Nikitin and Stelno. Work continued until the winter when Kavos received an order to visit all the best theaters in Europe in order to select the best theater system, as well as the engine room. Accompanied by the chief mechanic, Kavos toured the Brussels theater under construction, as well as Berlin, Dresden, Paris and other theaters. "But I didn't find anything remarkable," Cavos wrote.
The terms for the restoration of the theater were given extremely short. Restoration work went so fast that after a year and four months they were mostly sooty. The sum of all expenses amounted to 900,000 rubles. "The hasty renewal of the building of the Bolshoi Theatre, the lack of funds and some patronage, which the architect Kavos used in his position, had an unfavorable effect on the restructuring of the theater building, and the original building of the architect Beauvais was significantly damaged both from the outside and from the inside."
Construction work was carried out of poor quality, which affected many years later. A number of design errors were made. In general, the work was not brought to full completion. The upper part of the building - the third floor (artistic restrooms) remained unfinished. Outside, the appearance of completeness of the restoration of the building was created.
On August 20, 1850, the grand opening of the restored theater took place. Bellini's opera "The Puritani" was on. Again, newspapers and magazines described the magnificence of the building restored from the ruins, the perfection and luxury of its interior decoration, the comfort and beauty of the auditorium. Newspapers emphasized that the new theater building eclipsed all the best European theaters.
Turning to the analysis of the architectural appearance that Kavos gave to the Bolshoi Theater, one should first of all note the lack of that integrity and harmony that were inherent in all elements of the Mikhailov-Bone building. Looking at the building of the Bolshoi Theater, we admire this beautiful building, its general composition, its colossal scale, the distribution of masses of the building, its divisions, the majestic portico, the huge auditorium, etc. In other words, we are attracted to the building of the Bolshoi Theater by the outstanding merits of architecture , created by Mikhailov-Bové.
The changes made to the architecture of the Bolshoi Theater by Kavos come out on closer and more detailed examination of the building. There is a lot of success in the architectural decor developed by Kavos, but still it does not have the integrity and beauty that distinguished the Mikhailov-Bové Petrovsky Theater.
While admiring the building of the Bolshoi Theatre, we cannot but notice the shortcomings that exist in its architecture. Basically, this is the unsuccessful execution of some details and rough decor, the low artistic qualities of which are explained not so much by the lack of taste in Kavos, but by the general decline of architecture during this period. However, it should be remembered that the shortcomings of the reconstruction of Kavos are only a particle of that beautiful whole that we associate with the words "Bolshoi Theatre". Numerous, in some cases unsuccessful, alterations of Kavos could not violate the main artistic merits of the building, captivating by the grandeur and monumentality of the architectural image.
Kavos did not immediately find those final architectural forms that are still visible at the Bolshoi Theater building. During the design process, he initially made two options, still relatively close to the old Beauvais architecture (Fig. 50 - 53). In both versions (kept in the Museum of Architecture (Academy of Architecture of the USSR), the front slope of the roof of the upper part of the building has not yet been replaced by the upper pediment. The columns of the portico have the same Ionic threads. In one version, signed by Kavos (Fig. 52), the front wall of the upper volume is indented up to the corridor surrounding the auditorium.In another version (fig. 50), not signed by Kavos, but by all indications belonging to him, on the back facade there is a pediment and columns, the height is the same as on the front facade.In both versions, the upper the pediment is present only on the rear facade.
After the fire, only the outer walls and columns of the portico remained from the old Petrovsky Theater. Reconstructing the building, Kavos sought to make the outer facade more beautiful: as he himself writes, to decorate it most elegantly. The strict and expressively restrained attire of the old Petrovsky Theater no longer satisfied the new tastes, it seemed poor and boring.
Kavos' desire to make the outer facade more beautiful was also accompanied by a desire to increase the volume of the entire building. Cavos increased both the overall height of the building and the size of individual parts, details of the facade (the height of the columns, pediment, sculptures, entablature, etc.). In the Kavos reconstruction project (Fig. 55), the total height of the building was increased from 36.9 m (near Beauvais) to 43.5 m, the height of the main portico was increased from 23.5 to 27 m. The height of the columns was increased accordingly from 15 to 16 m. The height of the walls of the lower volume has been increased from 23.5 to 26 m, the sculptural group of Apollo - from 5 to 6.5 m, etc. In reality, while carrying out his project, Cavos deviated from these dimensions and did not depart so much from the original dimensions of the Mikhailov-Beauvais building (Fig. 83-86). The total height of the existing building of the Bolshoi Theater is 40.7 m, the height of the portico is 24.5 m, the height of the columns of the portico is 14.8 m, the height of the auditorium is 19.7 m.
As already mentioned, Cavos introduced a number of new, not entirely successful architectural motifs (Fig. 58) both outside and inside the building. Instead of a gentle slope roof, softly completing the building, Cavos introduced a second pediment, which changed the proportions of the crowning volume and the general silhouette of the theater. The upper pediment monotonously repeats the lower one. Its densely rich thyme
first of all, it attracts attention with its relief, thereby introducing anxiety into the composition of the facade.
The criticism of contemporaries about the technique used by Kavos cannot be considered unfounded, despite the fact that the appearance of the existing Bolshoi Theater familiar to us
with two pediments is not perceived by us as an architecturally contradictory composition. The duality of photons of the Bolshoi Theater is obvious. Cut off at a sufficient distance from each other in height and therefore completely visible, they argue with each other, which reduces the architectural significance of the pediment of the entrance portico.
But the biggest failure of Kavos was that he unrecognizably altered and degraded the wall with the arch and sculpture of Apollo. In an effort to decorate this wall as richly as possible and “hide the heaviness of proportions from the general colossality” or, as he himself writes, “in order to mask the infinity of general proportions,” Kavos destroyed the arch-writing and filled the entire steppe with pilasters, windows, arcades. divided into five separate parts. The middle, wider one has five windows framed by one flat arcade. The side windows are arranged in pairs. The side parts are divided by one pilaster, while at the corners and along the edges of the middle part there are two of them. The entire plane of the wall turned out to be crushed and fragmented. The former plaster group of Apollo, which stood out so well against the dark background of the arch, died during a fire and was filled with foam by a quadriga cast from red copper according to the model of the sculptor Klodt. Placed on a heavy pedestal, it was strongly pushed forward, to the very edge of the ridge of the roof of the portico, so that the front legs of the rearing horses protrude in front of the pediment (Fig. 105, 110).
This interesting, though not new solution (remember, for example, the Alexandrinsky Theater of Rossi in St. Petersburg) had a peculiar effect, enhancing the compositional significance of the portico and the visibility of the magnificent sculptural group. However, in the new production, the quadriga of Apollo, being the main decoration of the theater facade and expressing the essence and purpose of the building, still does not have that support and connection with the rear facade of the wall, does not have that strong symbolic conditionality, like this It was in the Old Petrovsky Theatre.
The side parts of the façade, on the sides of the portico, whose smooth surface in the former building of Beauvais was enlivened only by square rustication, at Kavos lost their background character, subordinated to the portico. On the edges of the walls, Cavos laid pilasters of a similar order to the portico. In the middle of the walls appeared huge false windows in heavy frames, repeating the motif of windows located under the portico, and bas-relief panels at the top of the attic (Fig. 108, 111). The wall itself was shattered by larger and coarser rust.
The sculptural frieze that ran along all the walls around the building was destroyed, and a new one was introduced, but only on the front facade. On this new frieze, the images of children supporting heavy garlands were replaced by lush floral ornaments (Fig. 103). The juicy wide strip of the former cornice that crowned the whole building and the modulons supporting it, with wreaths between them, Kavos, in accordance with the division of the upper wall with pilasters, replaced it with a complex and dryly profiled entablature (Fig. 90, 6).
After the fire, only the trunks of the columns remained from the portico. Instead of the pediment of the old theater, low, flattened and light, Cavos erected a new one, different in character - higher and more massive, which was largely justified by the monumental quadriga crowning it, located directly above the tympanum of the pediment. A bas-relief was placed in the tympanum - flying "geniuses" with a lyre (Fig. 104), which beautifully filled the plane of the pediment.
In his reconstruction project, Kavos outlined the height of the columns at 16 m (a whole meter higher than the old ones), but in reality they were only 14 m 80 cm high. Instead of the Ionic order of the former portico, Kavos introduced an order close in design to the composite one (Fig. 92 -104).
Pilasters were superimposed on the inner wall of the portico, corresponding to the columns. The bas-relief above the windows was replaced by a row of rectangles filled with theatrical masks (Fig. 112). The semi-circular windows, formerly decorated with ornamented archivolts and thin balusters at the bottom, now received a more magnificent decor in the form of pilasters on the consoles, sandriks and balusters, which are rather heavy in shape. Niches with sculptures of muses 3.5 m high appeared on the previously smooth walls, against the extreme intercolumns (Fig. 106 - 107).
As a result of alterations, the inner wall of the portico, while retaining a clear rhythmic breakdown and good proportions of openings, nevertheless lost in the subtlety of the architectural decoration, which well expressed the interior of the portico.
The side facades of the theater (Fig. 60, 91), as well as the main one, were altered by Kavos mainly in the direction of enriching them with architectural decoration, which violated the noble simplicity and integrity of the original design. But due to the fact that the entire compositional and tectonic basis of the construction, created by his predecessors, was preserved, the side facades of the theater make a strong impression even in their present form.
According to the alteration of the main facade, five large arched windows of the upper volume were destroyed. Instead, their wall received 13 pairs of small narrow windows, separated by pilasters. The small windows of the attic floor of the main volume were slightly enlarged and framed by a continuous strip, passing alternately from the bottom of one window to the top of another.
The solid strip of bas-relief that adorned the middle of the side façade and thus effectively distinguished its central part was replaced by a number of separate rectangular bas-reliefs with theatrical masks, the same as in the main portico. The balconies on the second floor, which served as umbrellas over the entrances, were also replaced by deep rain canopies supported by crudely patterned cast-iron columns with lanterns between them. Kavos did not find, however, an organic combination of these canopies with the monumental architecture of the facades.
In the same character as the main and side facades, the rear facade was also redesigned (Fig. 61, 85, 89). In addition, a one-story stone shed was attached to it for a scenery warehouse.
The absence of the necessary subtlety and elegance in the architectural decoration and profiling of details introduced a certain monotony and dryness into the architecture of the theater facades overloaded with decorations.
If, when restoring the external appearance of the building, Kavos had to reckon with its size, relief, windows, with all the preserved architecture of the old theater, then when reconstructing the interior of the theater, which had almost completely died, he could show great freedom. In addition, Kavos believed that the old theater did not have the main qualities of this type of building and that its "serious flaws" required "good reconstruction." On this "foundation" he significantly changed the nature of the architecture of the interior of the theater and especially the auditorium.
But even here, in constructing the interior of the theater, its main premises, Cavos, being bound by the existing structure of the building, which predetermined the main spatial construction, still could not get away from the legacy of Mikhailov-Beauvais.
Comparison of the old auditorium with the new one (Fig. 57) indicates their difference in architectural interpretation and, at the same time, some closeness of the new hall to the second version of Beauvais in terms of basic dimensions and spatial composition.

During the reconstruction of the auditorium, Kavos sought, first of all, to correct its acoustic and optical shortcomings, and to increase its size. and also decorate it most magnificently.
Being one of the greatest specialists in theater construction and an outstanding expert in acoustics, Kavos paid special attention to creating the best form of the auditorium for acoustics. Therefore, when reconstructing the theater, Kavos significantly changed the shape of the hall. Considering the former curved wall of the auditorium to be unsuccessful acoustically due to its expansion compared to the proscenium and at the same time wanting to enlarge the hall, Cavos broke the inner wall of the hall along the entire perimeter, badly damaged by fire and survived only up to the 4th floor, and erected a new wall of the hall, increasing it by narrowing the corridors. This new wall, moved by 2.5 m, Kavos gave a different curvature and gave a smoother outline, destroying the extension compared to the proscenium (Fig. 56, 63, 64).
Thanks to this reconstruction, the shape of the auditorium of the Bolshoi Theater has changed significantly. Comparing the old hall of the Petrovsky Theater with the new one (Fig. 56), we see that, having retained the former outline for the rear semicircle of the hall (only slightly increasing its radius), Kavos straightened the side parts of the curved hall that approached the stage. At the same time, Kavos expanded the portal arch of the stage. Thus, now, after reconstruction, the curve of the boxes approached the stage almost in a straight line and smoothly passed into the side walls of the portal. This greatly improved the acoustic and optical properties of the new hall of the Bolshoi Theatre. Comparison of the Mikhailov-Bovet auditorium with the reconstructed Cavos hall allows us to draw the following conclusions: the dimensions of the hall according to the Cavos project have changed little, except for the length, increased mainly due to a reduction in the depth of the proscenium; the width remained almost the same.

The space increased by the corridors was occupied by the outward lodges. The height of the hall remained almost the same.
As in outdoor architecture, Kavos did not immediately find the final composition of the auditorium. This can be seen from the above options for his project in the collection of the Museum of Architecture of the Academy of Architecture of the USSR (Fig. 50-53). At first, its architecture was still close to the old hall of Mikhailov-Bové. In the first variant, there are no front lodges, the corridors surrounding the auditorium are still wide. In another version, the decor of the royal boxes and the entire hall is more modest and stricter.
When comparing both halls, the old auditorium of Mikhailov-Bone seems taller and slimmer (Fig. 57). Contemporaries also testify to this. “When you enter the stalls and the curtain has not yet been raised, the theater hall will certainly seem to you smaller than it was before the fire. But this is nothing more than an optical illusion, resulting from its amazing proportionality.
The reason for this "optical illusion" lies in a different interpretation of the composition of the "wall" of the Kavos auditorium, its division into tiers. Kavos greatly reduced the height of the plafond, lowered the mezzanine and divided the entire height of the hall into equal tiers. The height of the lodges and parapets became the same for all tiers.
Nearly all of the new space gained from the reduction of the corridors was used for front lodges. According to Cavos, the old lodges were not deep and wide enough, he replaced them with new ones (Fig. 76), which combined the so-called French and Italian types of lodges. The "French" type of lodges are balconies supported by corbels (or columns) and separated by an internal partition. The entrance to them leads directly from the corridors. The peculiarity of these boxes is that the entire box and the audience in it are completely visible from the hall. The Italian type of boxes is, as it were, separate rooms, devoid of a front wall overlooking the auditorium and usually decorated with curtains and draperies that cover the box from the auditorium. The advantage of this type of box is that spectators who do not want to be seen from the auditorium can attend the performance and remain invisible, covered with curtains. This type of box was once used in the Old Petrovsky Theatre.
In the new auditorium of Kavos, the boxes were divided into two halves by a partition: the front - a balcony protruding forward, open on all sides, supported by a console hidden under the floor of the box, and the back half, i.e. the front box and the form of a separate small office, closed from the hall drapery. The avanlozha was furnished with sofas, a mirror, and a table. All together, as Cavos writes, it was "very comfortable and pleasant."

For that time, it was undoubtedly a new, successful technique that created great convenience (of course for the “chosen public”) when visiting the theater with a whole family or company.
The entire inner "wall" of the hall was a large front of boxes with strongly emphasized, extended horizontal tiers and a continuous rhythm of piers and draperies (Fig. 68, 113). The center of the entire composition of the "wall" was the middle royal box. Along the edges were located side letter boxes (for the royal family and the ministry of the court, as well as for the directorate of the theater). Both the central and letter boxes, two tiers high and six meters wide, were supposed to be the most richly decorated elements of the hall, according to Kavos.
There was NOT a central royal box in Beauvais' project: it was placed in the left, towards the stage, letter box. True, a central box was soon arranged, but what it represented is completely unknown. Cavos noted the shortcomings of these lodges: the stairs to them were on the side, there was no vestibule, "... the box had no salon, it was narrow, just like the achanlozha, it seemed more like a corridor than an imperial box", "the stairs in them were not only defective, but not very decent in a building of this type.
Of course, the central position of the royal box and its size gave more solemnity to the entire hall. The box was somewhat pushed forward in relation to the plane of the tiers (Fig. 77, 115). Below it was supported by two bent atlases. Two pairs of double twisted columns carried sculptures of boys supporting a heavy pediment with a coat of arms in the middle, topped with an ornate curved cornice. The canopy of the box protruded slightly in front of the gently sloping arch that carried it, decorated with lush draperies, intertwined cords, tassels and braids. The letter boxes were almost the same, only twisted columns were placed wider in them, and the top of the box and the pediment above it were broken into three faces (Fig. 77, 117). In both cases, the impression of some heaviness and architectonic ambiguity will be created. Much better they were presented in the first version of the draft, signed by Kavos.
When altering the parterre, Cavos replaced the inconvenient entrance steps with a more comfortable gentle ramp. Behind the armchairs, where there used to be a gallery, he arranged an amphitheater, with a corridor through the back. The stalls after the reconstruction received two side and one middle aisle and had 17 rows with 420 seats; the amphitheater behind the parterre had 150 seats. The entire auditorium accommodated 2,300 people and had 16 boxes in the benoir, 30 boxes each in the dress circle and the second tier, 20 boxes each in the third and fourth tiers, and a fifth tier gallery.

The orchestra was advanced six meters in depth by reducing the proscenium (it used to be strongly advanced into the stalls), expanded up to the letter box and lowered by one meter so as not to block the stage for the audience of the stalls, as was the case in the old theater. All this provided much better visibility of the stage.
The ceiling and the new hall became much flatter than before (Fig. 79 - 81). This greatly improved the acoustics of the hall. Contrary to the instructions that ordered to make the plafond, as well as the parapets of the boxes and the gallery in the Bolshoi Theater being restored, made of metal, Cavos made them wooden, referring to the low acoustic properties of the metal and citing the example of Rossi's Alexandrinsky Theater, where the metal plafond was the cause of poor resonance.
In order not to worsen the acoustics, Kavos made the plane of the ceiling almost horizontal with slight roundings at the edge, without any stucco. The entire surface of the painted plafond is divided by complex, decorated with ornaments and carvings, frames into ten separate sectors filled with images of nine muses with Apollo (Fig. 119 - 120). Muses soar against the blue sky. The ceiling painting is of low quality, sugary in execution and sharp in tone.
A large chandelier (Fig. 82) with three rows of candles was hung in the center of the plafond (in the old theater the chandelier was much smaller and had two rows of candles). Many bronze sconces attached to the sides of the tiers enhanced the illumination of the hall. Their light, splitting and refracting in crystal pendants, gave the hall an elegant, festive look.
Initially, lighting was produced by lamps in which olein (oil) burned. This was inconvenient, since the glass often broke, fell down, and the chandelier had to be raised to fix it during the performance itself. Only much later was gas lighting introduced (in a chandelier and a ramp). On the most solemn occasions and on festive days, stearin candles were lit. The chandelier was hung very inconveniently, as it obstructed almost the entire stage to the spectators of the upper tiers sitting behind it.
Professor of historical painting Kozroya-Duzi was commissioned to write a new curtain on a plot from Russian history. He presented three sketches, from which a sketch was selected depicting the solemn entry of Prince Pozharsky through the Spassky Gate into the Kremlin after the expulsion of the Polish invaders from Moscow. The curtain was made with meticulous attention to detail. Critics of that time wrote: “... the only reproach is his too distinct performance. This is no longer a decorative painting, content with the general effect, but rather a real picture, finished in every detail with a true love of art. The most demanding eye will not find in her a single feature that
would have been carried out hastily or carelessly. This replacement of the former curtains with their conditional symbolic emblems and attributes of art - lyres, wreaths and Apollos - such curtain-pictures with historical plots is characteristic.
The decoration of the hall was done with extreme splendor. The basis of the color composition of the hall was the combination of crimson silk of the draperies of the boxes with gold covering almost all the decorations of the hall (ornament, stucco molding, parapet carving, etc.). The crimson silk of the drapery of the boxes created a bright purple background in all tiers.
The front side of the parapets of the tiers of lodges (Fig. 116, 118) shone with a variety of gilded carvings, which seemed even brighter on a large field. Later, the entire plane of the parapet was gilded, so that the carving superimposed on it, extremely elaborate in design, merged into one common, illegible, brilliant strip of the barrier.

The parapets were made somewhat curved in order to make it more comfortable to sit in the front row. Comfortable furniture was made of polished oak, with crimson velvet cushions.
The auditorium even now makes a strong impression with its clear and regular construction, harmonious proportions. This impression of the solemn and majestic architecture of the hall of the Bolshoi Theater does not disappear even after a closer examination of the decor reveals its heaviness and rudeness.
Of note are the very important improvements Cavos made to the new Auditorium. In addition to the above-mentioned change in the form of the hall and the construction of new walls, Kavos, with the help of a number of specially taken measures, further improved the acoustic conditions in the auditorium. The plafond was lowered, the walls of the hall at a distance of two fingers from the stone were covered with a wooden panel, the round ceiling, also wooden, was made like a guitar, had a special
"deku" and was completely made up of small pieces. As a result of all these changes, the auditorium of the Bolshoi Theater has become one of the best in the world in terms of its acoustics.
The great Russian actress A. V. Nezhdanova told in her memoirs how, speaking for the first time on the stage of the Bolshoi Theater, she was confused when she saw the vast expanse of the hall in front of her. The modest young singer thought: “What a strong voice you need to have to fill his huge space!” “I didn’t know,” she continues, “the magical qualities of the acoustics of this hall, I didn’t know that the lightest, barely perceptible sounds are perfectly audible in all its most remote corners.”
The visibility of the stage has also been improved. By lowering the orchestra that blocked the stage from the stalls, widening the stage portal, making the curve of the hall more gentle, and directing the walls of the boxes more steeply towards the stage, Cavos, thanks to all these measures, achieved much better visibility.
Other interiors of the restored theater have also changed. The magnificent wide corridors that surrounded the auditorium from the outside but completely replaced the foyer in size in all tiers, capable of freely accommodating the entire audience of the tier and coming from below, according to Kavos, were "... unsatisfactory in proportions, not only against the rules of construction, but also against common sense. Their width was 7 arshins, height 3.5 arshins. These proportions did not allow to make a vault, moreover, these proportions made the corridors gloomy and look like catacombs.
As a result of the reconstruction carried out by Kavos (arrangement of the front louvres), these corridors were reduced to 4 arshins wide, which, according to Kavos, was sufficient for "easy circulation." Narrowed corridors now lost
their former meaning of capacious ring foyers and turned into ordinary passages intended for communication between boxes.
In the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theatre, the corridors of all floors approaching the stage ended with staircases that served as an addition to the main semicircular staircases. Kavos destroyed them, leaving the semicircular stairs unchanged. Instead, he provided stairs isolated from the corridors, facing the side facades and designed for convenient communication with the complex of premises serving the stage (artistic and service) developed by Kavos. He managed to do this only by significantly shortening the side vestibules and side foyers - the masquerade halls of the second floor (Fig. 56). This "minimal", in his words (five sazhens, or 10.5 m in reality), reduction of the halls changed their elongated proportions and made them more static.
Thanks to the alteration of the stairs, the public now got to the gallery only through a special, separate staircase. End-to-end communication stopped until the topmost
floors. The gallery audience was cut off from the rest of the theatre. And this was not an accidental phenomenon, this was the result of ignoring the interests and neglect of the poorest part of the audience.
In order to make the aisles and rooms associated with the letter boxes more grand, Cavos increased their size, introduced wide staircases and second salons to the vestibule. Complicated even more by further alterations and additions, all this heaping of walls and stairs worsened the communications connecting the theater premises, created inconvenience for the public and was dangerous in terms of fire. Cavos also redesigned the main staircase leading from the main vestibule to the main foyer (Fig. 56). Previously, in the Bolshoi Petrovsky Theater, these stairs began with one wide flight (Fig. 28, 29) and then divided into two narrow flights that ran along the side walls of the vestibule. Passages to the corner halls of the second floor were made above the middle wide march. Kavos, instead of the lower wide and upper narrow marches, made all the marches the same, narrowing their total width, and from the space thus freed along the side walls (1.5 m wide) made passages to the corner halls of the second floor. Now, to get into the corner halls, you need to go through a long one, sandwiched between the wall
and the balustrade of the stairs, the passage that goes around the entire march and the entire landing of the stairs (Fig. 69).
In the vestibule, Kavos replaced the severe, strong Doric order and coffered vaults with less expressive pilasters and a heavy rusticated wall (Fig. 72).
The lower wide corridor under the stalls was covered with earth, which served as a wardrobe for the audience of the entire theater (Fig. 62). Instead, wardrobes were built in the corridors of all floors. To make it easier for the audience to enter the stalls, Kavos made a direct entrance to it from the vestibule. He divided the entire ascent from the vestibule to the stalls into three separate marches: one at the entrance to the hall, the second - in the thickness of the vestibule wall in the doors opposite the main entrance, and the third - directly in front of this wall. Cavos replaced the steps at the side entrances to the parterre with gently sloping ramps.
The whole huge space above the auditorium and the main foyer was occupied by the scenery hall. The trusses above this hall, supporting the entire roof of the building, were made of wood (Fig. 75). This was dangerous in terms of fire and contrary to the instructions that ordered them to be made of metal, but the violation of the prescription was justified by saving the allocated funds. The ceiling of the scenery hall was not insulated, which made it impossible to work in the hall and led to repeated repairs in subsequent years.
In the same way, the decoration of the upper parts of the building above the mezzanine side foyers was not smoked. The dressing rooms of the artists supposed there were not made; builders limited themselves to temporary boardwalk on wooden posts; costume warehouses were placed here.
The huge stage of the Bolshoi Theater remained unchanged, with the exception of the depth, which was reduced by 5.5 meters due to the proscenium.
In the side walls of the stage, instead of eight narrow arched openings, which served to connect the stage with neighboring rooms, supply scenery and serve the stage, four arches, much wider and higher, which created great convenience for working on the stage.
The rear part of the building was freed from interfloor ceilings and turned into a rear stage, which significantly increased the decorative possibilities of productions. The slope of the stage floor (the “tablet” of the stage) has become more gentle than in the old theatre.
Outside, at the rear facade of the building, a one-story stone extension was erected - two covered courtyards for storing scenery, with an arched gate and a rather steep ramp to raise the scenery to the stage.
Despite the fact that Kavos cared about fire-fighting measures and the conveniences of the public, much in its reconstruction still left much to be desired - and later served as a cause for concern for the administration, such as the wooden stairs to the artists' lavatories, located on the stage in extremely flammable conditions.
Particular attention was paid by Kavos to the creation of maximum amenities for the privileged public of the stalls, benoir and mezzanine, as well as to the premises serving the royal family. Visitors to the upper tiers entered the theater from the side facade through small lobbies and rooms.
Despite a number of improvements, still insufficient care was taken in relation to the organization of the backstage part of the theatre. “Watching the theater building from the side of the facades and inside the magnificent hall,” wrote engineer I. I. Rerberg, an excellent connoisseur of this theater, who did a lot to improve it, “we don’t even imagine what kind of inconvenience the artistic staff and workers of the stage experience.” Only after the Great October Socialist Revolution were many of the shortcomings of the reconstruction of Kavos eliminated.
Summing up the results of this reconstruction, it must be said that in many ways it changed the clearer and more integral character of the architecture of the Petrovsky Bolshoi Theater Mikhailova - Beauvais, especially in terms of architectural decoration and details. At the same time, during the reconstruction, the theater acquired a number of qualities that it lacked before. The acoustic and optical conditions in the auditorium were incomparably improved, as well as the parts serving the theater, equipped with the latest technology of that time - the stage, workshops, engine room, decoration shop, etc.
It should be especially emphasized that Cavos nevertheless retained the main compositional advantages of the excellent building of Mikhailov - Beauvais. Thanks to them, the building of the Bolshoi Theater is still an exceptional building.
Not to mention the grandiose scale of the building, the monumentality of its masses, the expressiveness of its colonnade - all these qualities that stop the attention of any spectator, not to mention its external appearance, so well known to everyone, the theater auditorium is admired by everyone. The vast space of the hall amazes the viewer with the scope and strength of the constructive solution, captivates with the brilliance and luxury of decoration. The bright, festive coloring of the hall (a combination of gold and purple that has become traditional for the Bolshoi Theater) creates an unusually spectacular impression and captivates with its exceptional elegance. The huge depth of the hall filled with streams of electric light, the colossal stage, which takes the viewer's gaze into the endless distances of scenery - all this, even without the action of music and singing, creates a unique spectacle, makes visiting the Bolshoi Theater unforgettable.