In 1809, the birth year of the Zhytomir Theatre, it was triumphantly opened in a specially built building. However, soon the wooden theatre went up in flames.
A new building was built in 1858 and survived to our days. At the time, it was considered to be the best one in Ukraine. Lev Nikulin, a famous Russian writer, born in Zhytomir, remembered in his book "People of Russian Art", "It was a real theatre, cosy and noble auditorium with baignoires, dress circle and excellent acoustic. The auditorium was almost round and when actors murmured something, it seemed that you are muttered in the ear. The plafond was painted with plump Cupids and soulfully smiling Muses, harps and garlands."
A polish writer and humanist Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski, author of novels about rural life, who lived in Zhytomir from 1853 to 1860, was one of the initiators to build the theatre and gather a company of actors.
Prominent Ukrainian actors performed in the Theatre's stage. In 1883, a Ukrainian company headed by Mark Kropivnitsky and Mikhail Staritsky and later by Ivan Karpenko-Kariy, Nikolay Sadovsky, and Maria Zankovetskaya also performed there.
Theatregoers could see shows performed by such famous Russian drama actors and singers as Glikeria Fedotova, Maria Savina, Vera Komissarzhevskaya, Pavel Orlenev, Ira Aldridge, an American stage actor, Leonid Sobinov, and French singer Pauline Viardot. In July of 1903, Fyodor Shalyapin visited the city and gave several concerts.
Today, the Theatre plays one of the most important roles in the social life of the city.
The Zhovten Cinema (the Oktyabr Cinema) is located in the city centre.
The Theatre's building was constructed in the Socialist Realism style. The foyer is faced with granite and Cuban marble endowing the interior with cool calmness.
The Cinema features an auditorium seating 498 people, Dolby Digital sound equipment and one of the Ukraine bigg...
A building of the Zhytomir Region Philharmonic Hall was built in 1858 as a city theatre under the initiative of a Polish novelist and public figure Jozef Ignacy Kraszewski who was an art director of the theatre. At the time, the Theatre's building was considered to be the best one in Ukraine.
Today, the Philharmonic Hall is a monument of archite...
The Druzhba Cinema (the Cinema, for short) was opened in 1976 in Chernihiv.
In the late 1990s, the business was in wane. And in 1998, it was closed because of no profit.
In 2000, an idea appeared to reconstruct the Cinema. And as early as in 2001, the new Cinema was opened. It had better sound, comfortable armchairs, and the biggest screen in...