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Bolshoi Theatre

Moscow

One of two custom-made NDA - Decorative appliqués that adorn the lower edge of the curtain.With the curtain for the new hall, the Novaya Scena, the Bolshoi Theatre's management wanted to pay homage to the origins of the adjacent historic hall.The curtain design is, in fact, a reworking ...
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... of the main curtain of the Teatro San Carlo in Naples created by set designer Mauro Carosi.The anthemion motif with palmettes and lotus flowers, in this case made of NRN - Hand-machine embroideries, is a clear and not coincidental reference.From the time of Catherine II, the Russian Empire had frequent and solid relations with the Kingdom of Naples ...
... and with the subsequent Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, within which the permanent relocations to Russia of Neapolitan architects Carlo Rossi and Giuseppe Bove finally matured.Both contributed significantly, in the early 19th century, to changing the face of the two Russian capitals. Above all, the former built the theater that preceded the Bolshoi, while the latter built the current building.
The coat of arms of Russia, the double-headed eagle holding a scepter and an orb, was stylized with an NRN - Hand-machine embroiderie in gold, silver, and red thread.In the Moscow stage curtain, the eagle replaces the fleur-de-lis, the predominant heraldic figure in the coat of arms of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ...
... which appears 142 times on the San Carlo curtain, while the eagle was reproduced 150 times on the Novaya Scena curtain of the Bolshoi Theatre.
Made of FOT - Otello velvet with a 30% vertical fullness, the curtain is photographed here during the final stages of its construction ...
... while it hangs here in Moscow ...
... on the stage of the Novaya Scena of the Bolshoi, where it will work ...
The Novaya Scena (New Stage) of the Bolshoi Theatre is a theater with a horseshoe-shaped hall.
The stalls and three balconies can accommodate 900 spectators.
Completed in 2002, it was built next to the historic main hall.
1780
The English theatrical impresario Michael Maddox commissions Christian Rosberg to build the Petrovsky Theater.
1805
The theater is destroyed by fire.
1808
The Arbatsky Theater, built on the site of the previous one and designed by Carlo Rossi, is inaugurated.
1812
The magnificent theater, built almost entirely of wood, iss destroyed in the great Moscow Fire.
1821 / 1824
Giuseppe Bove is commissioned to build the new theater building.
1825
On January 18, the theater is inaugurated under the name Bolshoi Theatre.
1853
A new fire damages the interior of the building, and Alberto Cavos is commissioned to renovate it.
1918 / 1989
During the Soviet period, the theater undergoes internal modifications that damage its acoustics; these will be eliminated after the dissolution of the USSR.
1995 / 2002
A new hall, the Novaya Scena, is built next to the main building, replacing the historic hall until its reopening in 2011.
2005 / 2011
The theater's main building is renovated and returns to its tsarist-era appearance, primarily based on designs by Bove and Cavos.

Video & Documentation

Theatre of Eagles

Materials used in this production

FOT - Otello

Velvets

NDA - Decorative appliqués

Trimmings

NFR - Fringes

Trimmings

NRN - Hand-machine embroideries

Embroideries

Traveller curtains

Typology of curtain

Vertical fullness

Fabric: tailoring types

Information on data processing
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