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In 2005, two of the biggest Russian theaters - the Bolshoi Theater (Moscow) and the Mariinsky Theater (St. Petersburg) will close for reconstruction, announced Russian Deputy Culture Minister Leonid Nadirov on the eve of the government meeting on the main venues of Russian state policy in the sphere of culture and mass communications.
"The reconstruction will begin, most probably, in fall 2005 and will last till 2007-beginning of 2008," Mr. Nadirov said.
According to the deputy minister, the World Bank and St. Peters | Ads |  |
burg government will allocate $20 million each. The amount spent on the reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater will be much larger.
At the same time, Mr. Nadirov pointed out that the reconstruction "will lead to inevitable changes in the quality of the performing staff because it will be difficult to preserve it in its current composition during the reconstruction."
Mr. Nadirov also announced that it would make sense to transfer the supervision of architectural treasures to regional authorities.
"It is my personal opinion, but I believe that such architectural complexes as the Hermitage Museum, the Bolshoi Theater, the Kremlin must be administered by authorized bodies that had originally adopted programs on the development of local infrastructure," Mr. Nadirov told the journalists.
"I think such architectural treasures do not require state support. They bring in a substantial income and are part of development programs of their respective regions," Mr. Nadirov said.
In his opinion, "the federal government has other things to do rather than manage the Hermitage and the Bolshoi. The same approach can be applied to some other theaters, Mr. Nadirov emphasized.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
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