Ekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theater is one of the oldest in Russia. The theatre construction (based on the design by V. N. Semenov from Saint Petersburg who won the all-Russian open contest) began in 1903 and was led by local architect K. T. Babykin. The grand opening was held on September 12, 1912 – Glinka’s opera “A Life for the Tsar” was staged. Riccardo Drigo’s "The Magic Flute" became the first ballet production of a new theater in 1914.
A monument to Paris Communards (a pyramidal wooden stele covered with gypsum bas-reliefs devoted to the Paris Commune scenes) was installed in 1919 in the small park in front of the Opera Theater. In 1927 the ramshackle stele was demolished and the monument to Yakov Sverdlov by Leningrad sculptor M. Kharlamov was installed there instead.
In Soviet times Sverdlovsk Opera and Ballet Theater became one of the best in the country. In 1966 it received the status of an academic theater; it was awarded with USSR state awards twice. Alexander Pirogov, Fatima Mukhtarova, Sergey Lemeshev, Ivan Kozlovskiy, Feodor Chaliapin, Irina Arkhipova, Yuriy Gulyaev, Boris Shtokolov and other opera celebrities sang on its stage. Today Opera and Ballet Theater is one of the brightest landmarks in Ekaterinburg.
INTERESTING FACT
In the 19th century the square the theater is currently located on (or rather a large wasteland back then) was called Drovyanaya (Firewood) square: there was a wood market. In 1896 a wooden circus was built here; it demonstrated dramatic and cinema performances along with traditional circus shows. After the monument to Paris Communards was installed here in 1919, the square received its modern name – Paris Commune Square.