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After six years the Tbilisi Opera House announces its re-opening




After six years of renovations the Tbilisi Opera and Ballet State Theatre of Georgia – known as the Opera House – announces its re-opening on January 30, 2016 (Georgian Journal, January 11, 2016).

The Opera House opened in November 1851 under the name Tiflis Imperial Theatre. Its Italian architect, Giovanni Scudieri (1917-1851) died soon after construction completed. The luster (chandelier), ordered from France by the Russian Chief Governor of the Caucasus, Mikhail Vorontsov, was shipped from Marseilles in France to Poti in Georgia in 12 boxes. From Poti the chandelier parts were brought to Tbilisi by carriage. It is said that it was damaged during transportation and had to be ordered again.

French writer Alexandre Dumas wrote in 1856 in his book ‘Adventures in the Caucasus’ that ‘the balconies were decorated with Arabic carvings instead of ornaments, the curtain was beautifully adorned, and the stage itself looked more like a fairy palace, and not because of its expensive decorations, but for its sophisticated taste … I thought I was at the theatre of Pompey. I have never seen such an impressive hall of the theatre in my life.’ The curtain he spoke of was decorated by Grigol Gagarin.  

A fire destroyed the theatre in 1874 – including the chandelier and the curtain. The current Opera House was opened in 1896, seating 1,200 people. This building too caught fire in 1973. After this fire the building was completely renovated by architects Leri Medzmariashvili and Murtaz Chachanidze, keeping its eastern pseudo-Moorish style of Giovanni Scudieri. Chachanidze ordered the current chrystal chandelier from Austria. It weighs 2,800 kilograms and consists of 740 lamps.




In 2010 the building was closed for renovations. Over six years, the stage has increased and more balconies were added to the hall. As well as the interior, the exterior was also widened. Architect Leri Medzmariashvili kept the Moorish style in combination with a modern upgrade. The iconic stage curtain by the painter Sergo Kobuladze has been recreated using cutting-edge technology from Germany after the original was lost in the 1973 fire.














http://www.georgianjournal.ge/arts-a-culture/32074-long-awaited-tbilisi-opera-and-ballet-state-theatre-opens-after-renovation-works.html?slcont=0#my_onnext_page_title

Interior images credit: Georgian Journal
Exterior photographs taken by Martina Nicolls

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).


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