Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre

Brief information

The Novosibirsk Opera and Ballet Theatre opened in 1945, but its building had already managed to live another life. Before the stage became a home for opera and ballet, evacuated museum collections were stored here during the war, including collections from major museums in the European part of the USSR. The enormous theatre volume on Novosibirsk’s main square turned out to be not only a venue for performances, but also a temporary storehouse of culture.

The building was constructed in 1931–1941 as an unusual architectural complex. Its present appearance is important to read not only as the facade of a theatre, but as the trace of a major concept: the plan was to create a House of Science and Culture here, with a theatre, museum, library, radio center, and halls for assemblies. Later, the project was narrowed to an opera house, but the scale and complex internal layout remained.

What to notice first

It makes sense to compare the building’s different volumes. The front part is connected with the ticket hall, lobby, and concert hall; behind it is the cylinder of the auditorium with circular foyers; farther on stands the stage block, side wings, and the half-cylinder of the scenery storage area. This form shows that the theatre was conceived as a machine for large productions, not as a simple hall with a facade.

The main detail is the dome above the auditorium. It supports itself without buttresses, trusses, or columns; with a diameter of about 60 meters, its average thickness is only 8 centimeters. This changes the way one sees the massive building: its largest part is arranged almost like a thin shell. Another trace of an unrealized concept is the former system of a “panoramic-planetary theatre”: tunnels for movable scenery were planned under the amphitheatre, but later almost all of this mechanization was removed when the building was converted into a conventional opera house.