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Fire Destroys Russia's Mariinsky Theater Sets

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Reuters) - A fire at a warehouse in St. Petersburg on Friday destroyed most of the costumes and sets for the Mariinsky Theater, home of the Kirov ballet, including those for a coming tour of Japan.

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[Moved from Backstage to the Kirov forum]

<small>[ 06 September 2003, 03:15 PM: Message edited by: Admin ]</small>

Yahoo -

Fire Destroys Warehouse at Russia Theater
Fri Sep 5, 1:01 PM ET

ST.PETERSBURG, Russia - A fire swept through a warehouse at the Mariinsky Theater early Friday, destroying sets for many productions by the renowned opera and ballet company.

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We've pulled together our coverage of the Kirov fire:

Stuart Sweeney posted 05 September 2003 07:18 AM
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Some bad news from St Petersburg:

Fire destroys Kirov costumes
From BBCi

The Kirov is an icon of the Russian arts world
A fire destroyed the costumes and sets for the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg on Thursday, including those for the world-famous Kirov Ballet.

The blaze, in one of the theatre's warehouses, destroyed costumes for a forthcoming Kirov tour of Japan.

"Many scenery sets were destroyed, in particular, the set for the opera Evgeny Onegin," said a theatre worker.

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Cassandra posted 05 September 2003 07:39 AM
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Interesting: Thats the second fire of that kind in a matter of months, as a serious fire has closed the Stanislavsky-Nemirovitch-Danchenko theatre in Moscow.

Coincidence? Or something more sinister?
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coda posted 05 September 2003 06:08 PM
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The BBC reported: "The Mariinsky Theatre, named after Tsar Nicholas II's wife Maria Fyodorovna..."
In fact, the Mariinsky Theatre was named after Tsar Nicholas II's GRANDMOTHER Maria ALEXANDROVNA who was Alexander II's wife.

Reporting on the fire in St.Petersburg the Russian language RTVi channel made a suggestion that the fire was started deliberately and told the viewers that it became a popular way to clear desirable plots in the centre of big cities, like Moscow and St.Petersburg, for the people with money. Most of the cultural institutions are underfunded although remain housed in listed buildings in central locations. After the fire, they don't have resources for rebuilding - and here comes a wealthy entrepreneur with an offer to build a house on this plot. Among those who talked on the programme about this practice was even a member of the Culture Committee of the Duma (Russian Parliament).

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Stuart Sweeney posted 06 September 2003 01:58 AM
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Kirov sets lost in storage fire
By Kevin O'Flynn for The Guardian

Sets worth tens of thousands of pounds belonging to the Mariinsky Theatre's in St Petersburg, the home of the Kirov ballet, were lost in a fire yesterday that was blamed on arson.
The backdrops and props from the theatre's legendary productions through the decades stood little chance as the four-storey building housing them, a few hundred metres from the theatre, went up in flames.

Despite the swift arrival of 28 firetrucks and more than 130 firefighters the blaze remained out of control for much of the night. By morning the roof had collapsed, as had most of the 200-year-old building's inner walls. Five firefighters were injured.

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Joanne Lee posted 08 September 2003 12:26 PM
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Those costumes, that famous raked stage, the history behing those Maryinsky walls.. I almost cried when I saw the TV footage on the news.
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djb posted 08 September 2003 02:22 PM
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Dry your tears (or some of them, at least) -- it wasn't the Mariinsky Theatre that burned down; it was a warehouse containing sets and costumes.

<small>[ 10 September 2003, 04:33 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]</small>

Another post by Joanne Lee copied here:

Member
Member# 2826

posted 11 September 2003 01:25 PM
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well, that may be, but all those old costumes and sets! that's cultural heritage right there going up in flames!

The Mariinsky Theatre Trust has announced that it is seeking donations to recreatre the vital sets lost in the fire. The Russian State has agreed to dund the rebuilding of the storage that housed the sets but, the Minister of Culture announced, the value of the lost sets has been estimated at US$6.6m. Donations should be made through Mariinsky Theatre Trust, 15 New Row London WC2N 4LA, telephone 44 7836 7033.

Hopefully some US organizations will be able to start philanthropic efforts soon

(to address the earlier posts) My understanding was that not *all* sets were lost, but merely one segment of the total they own -- including those planned for use in the Japan segment of their tour, notably the Onegin opera sets. That there is more than one storage facility outside the theatre itself...

<small>[ 15 November 2003, 09:57 AM: Message edited by: Catherine Pawlick ]</small>

An updated analysis of the financial effects by the International Herald Tribune.

http://www.iht.com/articles/120840.htm

According to the article, it will cost $15 million for normal operations to be restored.

<small>[ 10 December 2003, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: Kevin Ng ]</small>

Thanks Kevin for the link to this article, which does give a clearer picture than before. However, I wonder whether the lack of any mention means that the ballet sets did not suffer any damage or just the usual opera bias of arts journalists.