Moscow Hermitage Garden (), a popular recreation spot, is a

park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

in the central part of

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on Karetny Ryad Street. It is known for its cultural attractions and adjacent theaters. Regular events include opera, ballet and concerts.

History

The Garden was developed by Yakov Schukin, a Russian theater

entrepreneur Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entreprene ...

and

mecenate Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

, and opened to the general public in 1894. Cosy summer garden for

open-air concert A music festival is a community event with performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock, blues, folk, jazz, classical music), nationality, locality of musicians, or holi ...

s with open stage was formed by Y. Schukin around his theater. The official dedication was held on June 18, 1895. On first time the Garden was named "New Hermitage". 26 May 1896 it hosted the Lumière's

Cinématographe Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as movie projector, film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to release pri ...

premiere in Moscow. In 1898 here on the stage of Hermitage Theatre on Karetnyi Ryad was opened

Moscow Art Theatre The Moscow Art Theatre (or MAT; , ''Moskovskiy Hudojestvenny Akademicheskiy Teatr'' (МHАТ) was a theatre company in Moscow. It was founded in by the seminal Russian theatre practitioner Konstantin Stanislavski, together with the playwright ...

. Also the premieres of famous works of Chekhov

The Seagull ''The Seagull'' () is a play by Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov, written in 1895 in literature, 1895 and first produced in 1896 in literature#Drama, 1896. ''The Seagull'' is generally considered to be the first of his four major plays. It dramati ...

1898,

Uncle Vanya ''Uncle Vanya'' ( rus, Дя́дя Ва́ня, r=Dyádya Ványa, p=ˈdʲædʲə ˈvanʲə) is a play by the Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. It was first published in 1897, and first produced in 1899 by the Moscow Art Theatre, directed by Konstan ...

1899, Three Sisters 1901, have been performed here. Performances here have included such prominent actors as

Sarah Bernhardt Sarah Bernhardt (; born Henriette-Rosine Bernard; 22 October 1844 – 26 March 1923) was a French stage actress who starred in some of the most popular French plays of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including by Alexandre Dumas fils, ...

, Ernesto Rossi, Gustavo Salvini and many others. The Garden has been the site of

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s by the

Savva Mamontov Savva Ivanovich Mamontov (, ; , Yalutorovsk – 6 April 1918, Moscow) was a Russian industrialist, merchant, entrepreneur and patron of the arts. Business career He was a son of the wealthy merchant and industrialist Ivan Feodorovich Mamonto ...

company and seen benefices for

Fyodor Shalyapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɨˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; 12 April 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass voic ...

At present time

The ''Novaya Opera'', ''Hermitage'' and ''Sphera'' theaters are located in the Hermitage Garden. Since 1998 at summertime the Garden is a traditional venue for Moscow International Outdoor Jazz Festival – “Jazz at the Hermitage Garden”. In 2000, two busts were erected in the Hermitage Garden: the first is French writer and poet

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo, vicomte Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romanticism, Romantic author, poet, essayist, playwright, journalist, human rights activist and politician. His most famous works are the novels ''The Hunchbac ...

, offered by the mayor of Paris, and the second is Italian writer

Dante Alighieri Dante Alighieri (; most likely baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri; – September 14, 1321), widely known mononymously as Dante, was an Italian Italian poetry, poet, writer, and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called ...

, gift of the Italian government. Bust of Victor Hugo at the Hermitage Garden in Moscow

2008 fire

On February 7, 2008 the historic ''Schukin Stage'' building () was damaged by a fire that broke out in the upscale

nightclub A nightclub or dance club is a club that is open at night, usually for drinking, dancing and other entertainment. Nightclubs often have a Bar (establishment), bar and discotheque (usually simply known as disco) with a dance floor, laser lighti ...

''Dyagilev Project''. The nightclub, which had opened in March 2006, was burnt to the ground. Emergency services tried to extinguish the fire using a specially equipped helicopter. The roof and wooden beams of the Schukin building collapsed, leaving only a solid brick wall. The administrative offices part of the building was not damaged. The official investigation concluded that the fire was caused by a short circuit. Officials announced that the historic building would be restored.

History

At present time

2008 fire

References

External links