Architecture + Design: Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.
Figaro is here! Figaro is there! Figaro! - such an aria and many other arias of Verdi, Puccini, Kalman, Strauss and other authors of operas and operas flashed in my head when I passed the magnificent building of the Odessa Opera and Ballet Theater.
It seemed to me that Tchaikovsky's little swans were running around the building, which the Nutcracker was chasing, and Truffaldino from Bergamo, sitting on the balcony of the theater, told a funny story to Don Quixote, who laughs at the indecisive Teodoro, a servant and in the future a noble nobleman from the opera Lope de Vega Dog on the Seine, which cannot get out of the circle of painted Pagliacci posing as bullfighters and singing an aria from Carmen's opera.
Sometimes, it is not at all necessary to be at a theatrical performance in order to feel the presence of a special atmosphere of creativity and poetry.
This is facilitated by the architecture of the building, made in the style of the Viennese Baroque.
These stone walls are saturated with music, rhyme and prose.
The fundamental nature of the building is very subtly combined with the atmosphere of arches and colonnades.
And the old mulberries, wriggling in front of the building, create the feeling of an incessant oriental dance.
And it seems to me that everyone who walks past the walls of the theater feels it.
Probably the first thing that catches your eye is the magnificent sculptures that adorn the roof porticoes along the perimeter of the theater on a slightly protruding entablature and a low attic.
The daughter of Zeus Melpomene crowns the theater building on a chariot drawn by lions and wants to tell us that everything is serious here, that our life is a game!
It seemed to me that the paintings of Raphael Santi came to life and the little cupids, jumping out of the paintings, settled on the porticoes of the roof of the theater.
These cupids do not have wings, they are probably fallen angels.
Self-admiration, resentment, envy, all this can be seen in these funny figures depicting children, or little angels.
Perhaps this is a mockery, a parody of som-loving artists, to whom glory overshadows the glory.
I do not know the cause and effect, but it is possible that it is so.
I did not see sincere joy in their faces, perhaps it is a longing for the old theater, which was built on this place in 1810, but it burned down in a fire.
The new building that you see in the photographs was rebuilt in 1887.
Its territory, square and park have turned into a wonderful pastime for many Odessans and guests of this sunny city by the sea.
Even Forbes magazine did not pass by this building and noted it as one of the most extraordinary buildings in Eastern Europe.
This is the merit of two architects, on whose projects theaters have already been erected throughout Austria-Hungarian, these are Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer.
Probably, they really wanted Silva and the Bat to settle in Odessa.
Everything is interesting here, even mulberry trees planted in the park.
These trees are planted upside down.
The crowns of the trees took root, and the roots turned into branches, twisting like snakes, bearing fruit.
Cast iron lampposts are designed in the same style as the theater building.
The arched vaults of the theater entrance send me far to Morocco, these are my, personal associations, you have, they may be different.
Subtle fesques on the arches vaults suggest to those who are here for the first time that music lives here.
When you come close to this building, then, involuntarily, you switch to a whisper, fearing to violate the greatness of the musical works that permeate the walls of this building.
Since childhood, I have attended all operas and ballets, my mother wanted me to become a theater critic, or a theater director, but it didn't work out, I write articles in Hive.
I always dreamed of seats in the box, but we always got seats in the stalls.
Most of the French words that have come into our vocabulary have come from the theater.
Foyer, parterre, all ballet steps - tandyu and rolivet batman and many other words tell us that the standard of style and taste should be sought in Versailles, lol.
Then, four decades ago, I was an obedient boy and absorbed the atmosphere of the theater, but to be honest, many years later, I can say that, most of all, I liked puff pastry rolls with butter cream and tangerine juice, which , were special, namely, in the buffet of the theater, lol.
But, everything that I saw and heard left its imprint on my heart and I am always admirable for the structures that give us the opportunity to see and hear the great work of great people.
If you find yourself in Ukraine and visit the city of Odessa, then look for Tchaikovsky Lane on the map.
At number 1, there will be the building of this magnificent opera and ballet theater.
Heading from the city center towards the seaport, you will not pass by.
In Odessa, you always want to turn into Figaro, who manages everywhere - here and there, lol.
Author 
Ukraine
For my publications, I do not use stock photographs, it is fundamentally important for me to use photographs that I have made with my own hands for publication and I can name them - authorial work.