Russia’s Bolshoi theatre will undergo a $700-million overhaul in the next three years, the Izvestia daily reported on Friday, a day after the last performance took place in the legendary building.
The price tag — an astronomical sum by Russian standards — is due to major wear and tear suffered by the ageing building and the need for fundamental structural work below ground, Izvestia said, citing a leaked document on the project.
The latest price estimate, the equivalent of â,¬580-million, comes after President Vladimir Putin objected to an earlier projection that the work would cost the state budget around $1-billion.
The current estimated cost is more than twice the amount spent on a recent renovation of the Kremlin, a sum that itself raised eyebrows among Russian commentators.
Following a last performance of Mussorgsky’s Boris Godunov on Thursday evening, the Rossiiskaya Gazeta quoted the Bolshoi’s musical director, Alexander Vedernikov, as saying the closure was unavoidable.
”The moment is near when the collapse of the whole building will become inevitable,” Vedernikov said.
The ambitious reconstruction includes replacing the stage for around $244-million, refurbishing the interior for $174-million, and carrying out major structural work above and below ground for $296-million.
Escalators will be installed to carry theatre-goers down to a new underground section, where remants of an earlier theatre, destroyed in an 1853 fire, will be on display.
Until now, the most expensive theatre reconstruction in the world was that of Saint Petersburg’s Mariinsky theatre, which cost $360-million, while overhauling Milan’s La Scala opera house cost $72-million.
The project’s directors insist however that savings are being made by delaying restoration of the theatre’s workshops, where costumes, wigs and ballet shoes are fashioned, as well as contracting out a planned underground car park to a private company.-Sapa-AFP