St. Petersburg’s “Disappearing Cityscape”

“Disappearing Cityscape”, a photographic exhibition staged in conjunction with the Delovoy Peterburg newspaper, opened in the Fireplace Hall of the Dress Circle on 11 March. The exhibition invites discussion about the fate of St. Petersburg’s historic centre and the issue of preserving old facades.

Andrey Strelnikov, who took the photographs, has been conducting visual research of St. Petersburg’s urban environment for several years. He is currently working with the art historian Nikita Andreyev on a guide to lesser known places of interest in the city.

The exhibition is a continuation of the “Architectural Heritage of St. Petersburg” project, already familiar to theatregoers from last autumn’s exhibition by the rooftop photographers Vitaliy Raskalov and Vadim Makhorov in the Fireplace Hall. The core concept of the project is a desire to rouse society to seek a compromise between the need to improve the city’s environment and the preservation of artefacts from the past.

“Splendid, unique architectural masterpieces now stand neglected and are gradually dying”, says Irina Besedina, the exhibition’s curator. “Whether they will survive until they can be restored is anybody’s guess. It may be that in this way we will gradually lose what makes St. Petersburg unique, preserving only some of the more famous architectural monuments to attract and entertain the public.”

Admission on exhibition will be restricted to those with tickets for a Mikhailovsky Theatre production. The exhibition will remain open until 11 May.