The exhibition “War. Siege. MALEGOT”

The exhibition dedicated to the history of our theatre during the war years continues. Unique photographs and documents from the period, carefully preserved in the theatre’s archives, were put on display in the stalls circle on the eve of the seventieth anniversary of the city’s liberation from the siege, a date that is sacred to all Leningraders. Before the start of performances and during intermissions, patrons can examine the photographs and try to make out the faded lines of the letters and written records. The exhibition fosters not just historical curiosity, but a feeling of personal connection to the achievements of the generation that defended Leningrad and was victorious in the Second World War.

Concerts in the blockaded city and at the front, work in the defence industry and local anti-aircraft teams, accounts from frontline troops, the story of the theatre’s life in evacuation — the exhibition offers documentary evidence reviving battle-scorched pages from the wartime history of the Maly Opera Theatre. Letters to the front, reviews, notes of gratitude sent to the Theatre by the commanders of Red Army units, transcripts of the meetings where decisions were made to send material aid to the front and families back home — these seemingly quotidian documents leave an impression just as powerful as the triumphant communiqués. The exhibition runs until the end of February.