Cinemas (entry)

Categories / Art/Cinema
CINEMAS. The first film shows in St. Petersburg were held in 1896. In the early, so-called "slapstick" period of cinematography history, films were shown in restaurants, skating rinks, cafes and became a part of theatre performances. The first full-time cinemas were opened in St. Petersburg in 1905; in 1911, the city had 115 cinemas; and in 1915,156. On Nevsky Prospect alone, there were 16 cinemas, on Bolshoy Prospect of Petrogradskaya Side there were 14, and six on Sadovaya Street. The most fashionable cinemas included the Picadilly (60 Nevsky Prospect; opened in 1913; since 1932 known as the Aurora), the Parisiana (80 Nevsky Prospect; constructed in 1913 by the architect Lyalevich; renamed in 1920 the Oktyabr, returned to its original name in 1993), The Splendid Palace (12 Tolmacheva Street; constructed in 1914-1916 by architects Botkin and Bobrovsky, sculptor Gromov; in 1932 renamed the Rot-Front, and in 1948 Rodina). Approximately 20 cinemas that were set up in 1910s are operating today. In 1923, the first popular science films cinema in the USSR were opened in St. Petersburg (in the former Nirvana picture house, 55 Nevsky Prospect), followed by the country's first children's cinema the Smena and the youth cinema the Kram in 1927. Before World War II, there were 43 cinemas in Leningrad, including the Moscow cinema (opened in 1939; architect Khidekel) and the Gigant, the city's largest cinema (44 Kondratievsky Avenue built in 1933-35 to the design of architects Gegello and Krichevsky.) Some cinemas operated during the Siege of Leningrad in 1941-44 (except for several winter months in 1941-42). In 1990, Leningrad had 80 cinemas (including 41 deluxe) and approximately 50 in 2002 (including six children's movie theatres and the Spartak cinema running Gosfilmofond (Russian State Film Archives) films.) In 1998-2001, several new DOLBY system cinemas were opened in St. Petersburg, including the Mirazh-Cinema (35 Bolshoy Prospect of Petrogradskaya Side) which ranks as the best cinema of the two capitals.

I. V. Sepman. Bobrovsky Konstantin Semenovich
Botkin Boris Yakovlevich
Gegello Alexander Ivanovich
Gromov A.E.
Khidekel Lazar Markovich
Krichevsky David (Daniil) Lvovich
Lyalevich Marian Stanislavovich
Bolshoy Ave of Petrograskaya Storona/Saint Petersburg, city, house 35
Kondratevsky Ave/Saint Petersburg, city, house 44
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 80
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 60
Nevsky prospect/Saint Petersburg, city, house 55
Tolmacheva St./Saint Petersburg, city, house 12
1929
1936
1939