Theatre Square (Russian: Театральная площадь, Teatralnaya ploshchad), known as Sverdlov Square between 1919 and 1991, is a city square in Tverskoy District of Moscow, Russia. It's located at the junction of Kuznetsky Bridge Street, Petrovka Street and Theatre Drive (north-west of the latter; the square to south-east of Theatre Drive is a separate Revolution Square).
The square is named after the three theatres situated there — Bolshoi Theatre, Maly Theatre, and Russian Youth Theatre. The square is served by the Teatralnaya Moscow metro station on the Zamoskvoretskaya Line, Okhotniy Ryad on the Sokolnicheskaya Line and Ploshchad Revolyutsii on the Arbatsko-Pokrovskaya Line.
The square emerged after the Fire of 1812 and conversion of the Neglinnaya River into an underground channel; the river still flows diagonally around the square green. It was designed in a symmetrical neoclassical style by Joseph Bove (1820s), however, in the second half of the 19th century the ensemble was ruined by new additions in eclectic style, considerably taller than the original side buildings. The square also contains the neo-gothic TsUM (ЦУМ), a luxury department store.
It was during a meeting in Sverdlov Square 5 May 1920, that an iconic picture of Lenin was taken.
Famous quotes containing the words theatre and/or square:
“Art is for [the Irish] inseparable from artifice: of that, the theatre is the home. Possibly, it was England made me a novelist.”
—Elizabeth Bowen (1899–1973)
“The square dance fiddler’s first concern is to carry a tune, but he must carry it loud enough to be heard over the noise of stamping feet, the cries of the “caller,” and the shouts of the dancers. When he fiddles, he “fiddles all over”; feet, hands, knees, head, and eyes are all busy.”
—State of Oklahoma, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)