Opera House

Opera and Ballet Theatre is a brilliant masterpiece of architecture. Reaching for Deribasovskaya Street to the intersection with Richelieuskaya Street your eyes gaze at the stunning beauty of the magical palace, which is harmoniously standing next to Lanzheronovskaya Street. The first theater was opened in Odessa in 1809 on the initiative of the duc de Richelieu, it was completely burned. The new theater was built by the Viennese architects Fellner and Helmer. As the authors of many buildings of the theaters in Europe, they have created a facade in the Renaissance style with elements of lush Viennese Baroque.

On the facade of the theater there is a statue of the Greek muse of tragedy, Melpomene, which in Greek means "singing." Sculptural group of Melpomene is displayed in a chariot drawn by four panthers. Below there are some Roman numerals of several dates: the years of the construction theater, and then the phrase that the theater was burning and the next one - the period of restoration, the recovery.

On the porch there are two sculptures. From the right side - the muse of dance, which teaches this amazing art a girl, from the left side – Orpheus, who embodies music and plays to a centaur? At the main entrance there are two sculptures - a comedy and a tragedy. On the balustrade of the building there are 16 unique figurines of babies cupids. Each of the figures is really unique, they are all different. In the round recesses of the building there are busts of great personalities - Pushkin, Glinka, Gogol, Griboyedov. Thus is symbolized poetry, music, comedy and drama.

The ceilings are painted inside of the theater by the Viennese artist Lafleur. Paintings on the ceiling depict scenes from Shakespeare's works, "Hamlet", "Winter's Tale," "Midsummer Night's Dream," "As You Like It." The auditorium is presented in the style of French Rococo. Luxury chandelier adds a gorgeous ornamentation to whole ensemble and the interior of the theater. Lobby, stairs, foyer, auditorium are decorated with stucco and also various ornaments with gold, red velvet and wood finishes. In Odessa Opera House performed Chaliapin, Sobinov, Plisetskaya, Pavlova, Sarah Bernhardt, and many other prominent personalities of art. The repertoire of the theater consists of classics as "Sleeping Beauty", "Nutcracker", "Giselle", "Don Quixote", "Rigoletto", "Carmen - Suite", "The Barber of Seville" and others. The masterpieces of classical music are performed by 80 musicians.