Odessa Philharmonic Theater
Encyclopedia
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
.
History
The foundation stone for the theater was laid September 3, 1894, a day after OdessaOdessa
Odessa or Odesa is the administrative center of the Odessa Oblast located in southern Ukraine. The city is a major seaport located on the northwest shore of the Black Sea and the fourth largest city in Ukraine with a population of 1,029,000 .The predecessor of Odessa, a small Tatar settlement,...
's one-hundred-year birthday. The building was intended as the new stock exchange, or "New Exchange" to replace the old stock exchange. This is why the vast hall was decorated with six panels by the artist Nikolai Nikolaevich Karazin (1842-1908) which depict commerce throughout various stages of history.
Like the Odessa Opera Theater
Odessa Opera Theater
The Odessa National Academic Theater of Opera and Ballet is the oldest theater in Odessa, Ukraine. The Theater and the Potemkin Stairs are the most famous edifices in Odessa....
before it, a world competition was announced for a conceptual design of a new Odessa stock exchange. The design of Viennese architect V.J. Prohaska was considered the best. But this design did not meet all of the requirements, therefore it was modified and improved by Alexander Osipovich Bernardacci.
Construction was completed in 1898. Since 1924 the building has housed the Odessa Philharmonic.
Construction
The theater can seat 1,000 people and is 15 meters high and 910 square meters. The large hall has no supporting columns, and because of this, it was one of the most expensive buildings in Odessa to build.The main entrance is by a large open-sided, roofed gallery, called a loggia
Loggia
Loggia is the name given to an architectural feature, originally of Minoan design. They are often a gallery or corridor at ground level, sometimes higher, on the facade of a building and open to the air on one side, where it is supported by columns or pierced openings in the wall...
. The ceiling of this open entry is painted with the twelve symbols of the Zodiac
Zodiac
In astronomy, the zodiac is a circle of twelve 30° divisions of celestial longitude which are centred upon the ecliptic: the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year...
.
The interior is paneled with dark Lebanese
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
cedar, and the windows are set in white Carrara
Carrara
Carrara is a city and comune in the province of Massa-Carrara , notable for the white or blue-grey marble quarried there. It is on the Carrione River, some west-northwest of Florence....
marble.
Interesting facts
Since the building was originally designed as a Stock exchangeStock exchange
A stock exchange is an entity that provides services for stock brokers and traders to trade stocks, bonds, and other securities. Stock exchanges also provide facilities for issue and redemption of securities and other financial instruments, and capital events including the payment of income and...
, rather than a concert hall, it was made to be sound-resistant, rather than sound-conducting, in order to provide more privacy to visitors. Consequently, the acoustics are rather poor, as compared with other theaters and concert halls, so performers must use microphones and amplifiers to be heard adequately.