The evolution of theater placement in the urban space of the city using the example of Moscow from the late 17th to the early 20th century.

Karpenko Elena Aleksandrovna Assistant; Department of Urban Planning; St. Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering 190005, Russia, Saint Petersburg, 2nd Krasnoarmeyskaya str., 4, office 308a Elenchik105@yandex.ru

Introduction

Urban planning placement of cultural objects in the city plays a key role not only in the development of the city, but also in the formation of stable value orientations among its residents. L.B. Kogan, L.N. Kogan and E.A. Orlova are well–known experts in the field of research of the cultural environment of the city. L.N. Kogan in his research identifies several main characteristics of cultural city environments:

- culture of the urban spatial sphere: culture of streets, courtyards, public institutions, etc. ^{[1, p.48]};

- the cultural level of the city's population, its cultural needs, interests and orientations ^{[1, p.48]}.

Throughout its history, the theater has played and continues to play one of the main roles in shaping the cultural environment of the city. The evolution of Moscow's theatrical life and its architecture is revealed in the works of A.V. Anisimov, L.M. Starikova, S.K.Bogoyavlensky, as well as in the book "The World – Theater. Architecture and Scenography in Russia" (A. G. Stepina, A. A. Petrova). Despite the fact that the history of the theater and its architecture from its appearance to the end of the Soviet period has been extensively studied, the issues of theater placement through the spatial prism of the "cultural environment of the city" is an urgent task.

According to official open data from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, there are 82 theaters in Moscow in 2022^[2]. The total seating capacity is 59574 seats (34166 - main seats, 25408 – additional seats)^[2]. According to the estimate of the permanent population of Moscow, as of January 1, 2024, 7,513,000 people of working age (men aged 16-61 years, women aged 16-56 years) live in Moscow^[3]. Based on this, it can be concluded that for every able-bodied resident of the capital, there are 0.007 seats in the auditorium.

According to unofficial data collected as a result of geoinformation analysis of open data sources and their updating, there are about 215 theaters in Moscow and nearby areas. Despite the indicator, which is 2 times numerically higher than the official values, the number of seats does not grow proportionally either. Most unofficial theaters have small stages or do not have their own venue at all.

To date, theatrical life is concentrated mainly within the Garden Ring (the largest concentration of theaters is in the Tverskoy, Arbatsky and Presnensky districts).  There are 136,080 people living within this region^[4], which is only 1.8% of the total working-age population. 94% of the working-age population lives outside the central administrative district of Moscow.

The statistical data are also compounded by the lack of urban planning rationing for the placement of theaters in Moscow.  The concept of a theater as an object of cultural and educational activity is not found in the current legal framework of urban planning documentation in Moscow. In accordance with the decree of the Government of Moscow dated December 21, 2021 No. 2152-PP "On approval of standards for urban planning design of the city of Moscow in the field of trade, service and provision of comfortable and favorable living conditions for citizens in residential facilities", only cultural, educational and leisure facilities (libraries, exhibition halls, museums, clubs, dance halls, cultural centers, multifunctional entertainment centers).

The issue of rationing theaters was also raised in Soviet times. Sociological surveys of viewers and surveys conducted in 1973-1976 showed that the frequency of visits to theaters is in no way related to the distances to them. The service radius here has practically no meaning ^{[5, p.12]}. However, both Soviet researchers and drafters of regulatory documents agree on one thing - transport accessibility plays an important role. To assess the spatial accessibility of theaters, we will refer to the draft regional standards for urban planning in St. Petersburg in 2015. The calculated indicator of the minimum acceptable level of provision of the population of St. Petersburg with theaters is 4.74 seats with transport accessibility up to 60 minutes^[6].

Figure 1 shows the current location of theaters relative to the modern administrative boundaries of the city. Transport accessibility within 1 – 1.5 hours is illustrated by the isochron construction method.

Fig.1. Modern placement of theaters in Moscow and nearby areas.

Significant changes in the theatrical appearance of Moscow have always been caused by a number of processes: political, economic, cultural and integration and are inextricably linked with the development of the city itself. The history of theater buildings in Moscow, as well as throughout Russia, has been documented since the end of the XVII century, but in a tangible perspective, Moscow's theatrical life is perceived starting from the Theater Square (the beginning of the XIX century). The chronological framework of the study is formed by the main stages of the formation of the administrative borders of the capital since the end of the XVII century and combined with the historical stages of the formation of the theatrical life of Moscow.

The end of the XVII – beginning of the XVIII century – the border of Moscow is defined by the boundaries of the fortress walls of the Earthen city.

The prerequisite for the emergence of the theater at this time was the Western European course of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich ^{[7, p.29]}. The first theatrical space in Moscow is the Funny Palace in the Kremlin (built in 1651 as the residential chambers of boyar Ilya Danilovich Miloslavsky)^[8]. By now, the palace has been rebuilt several times and has lost its eloquent functional purpose. In 1672, a "Comedy temple" was built in the village of Preobrazhenskoye, which continued to exist until 1676^{[9, p.12]}. By order of Peter the Great, a "Comedy Temple" was built on Red Square (1703-1733)^{[9, p.12]}. Theatrical performances of that time were also given in the theater hall of the Lefort house, specially equipped for these purposes^{[9, p.13]}. In 1701. The first "school" theater at the Slavic-Latin Academy was opened in Moscow, and the Moscow Hospital, founded by decree of Peter I in 1706 in Lefortovo, also became the site for the anatomical theater at the medical school ^{[7, p.30]}. Figure 2 shows the key theatrical structures of that time and their position relative to the urban planning structure of the city at that time.

Fig.2. Moscow theaters of the late XVII – early XVIII century.

The Kremlin was the historical center of the city, and the first elite theater of that time was located within its borders. The first public theater "Comedy Temple" is located in the central part of the core. The city at that time, by today's standards, was compact. And with the population of Moscow at that time (about 200 thousand people), the theater should have been a success. However, the "Comedy Temple" on Red Square, which could accommodate up to 400 spectators, was not a success among the townspeople^{[9, p.13]}. An unprepared public and weak transport links between the core of the city and the periphery led to the demolition of the building in 1735. Nevertheless, the theater's place in the structure of the urban core was a foregone conclusion.

The middle of the XVIII – beginning of the XIX century – the border of Moscow is formed along the Kamer-Kollezhsky val.

In the middle of the XVIII – early XIX century, Moscow was assigned the role of a provincial city in connection with the transfer of the capital to St. Petreburg. In 1710, the population of Moscow was about 160 thousand people.  According to the "revision tales", the population of Moscow began to decline at the beginning of the XVIII century, reaching a minimum by 1740 (138.4 thousand people), and then gradually began to approach the level of the beginning of the century (in 1776, the population of Moscow was 161 thousand people)^[10]. Before the outbreak of the Patriotic War of 1812, approximately 270 thousand people lived in Moscow, and after the end of the war – 215 thousand ^[10]. In 1742, the city's border was expanded to the Kamer-Kollezhsky Val^[11]. At the same time, the border was not an actual one, but a customs one^[11].

At this historical stage, the periphery of the Earthen City is structured and acquires the character of the periphery of the core. The periphery shifts to the boundaries of the Chamber-Collegiate shaft. In the current spatial organization, theatrical life was already polycentric, but still gravitating towards the core. The town-planning formation of the theater square in the core of the city is a distinctive feature of this period. Compositionally  The Theater Square is a rectangle framed by four two-story buildings with identical facades. The Znamenka district (the Znamensky Opera House and the Arbat Theater) acquires the character of linear placement of theaters. There are pockets of theaters on the periphery (in the north-east – the Locatelli Theater and the theater at the Red Gate, in the south-west – the people's theater on the Maiden Field), which negatively affects their popularity. Theaters on the periphery were not successful ^{[9, p.16]}, the majority of the population  She still lived within the boundaries of the Earth City. A special place is occupied by chaotic centers of domestic serf theaters within and outside Moscow. Home performances prepared the townspeople for the perception of professional theater^{[7, p.34]}.

Fig.3. Theaters of Moscow in the middle of the XVIII – early XIX century.

The middle of the XIX century – the beginning of the XX century – the border of Moscow is gradually expanding to the borders of the Moscow district railway.

In 1851, a railway was built between Moscow and St. Petersburg, which significantly reduced the travel time between the cities.  Moscow, being at the crossroads of many trade routes in Russia, is becoming the center of the country's transport infrastructure and one of Russia's key railway hubs. The migration influx to the city in the middle of the XIX century was accompanied by an increase in the population. In 1840, 349.1 thousand people lived in Moscow, by 1856 their number had increased to 368.8 thousand, and by 1868 it had reached 416.4 thousand people^[10]. During the First All-Russian Population Census, which took place on January 28, 1897, it was found that 1,426 thousand people lived in Moscow and its environs, and there were about 1 million inhabitants inside the city limits^[10]. The border of Moscow gradually expanded to the borders of the Moscow District Railway by 1909 ^{[12, p.2]}.

The core of the city is expanding, the periphery of the core is also expanding and goes beyond the boundaries of the Chamber College. The periphery shifts to the borders of the district railway. From 1803 to 1882. There was an imperial monopoly on theatrical performances ^[13]. In fact, at that time only two theaters were functioning in Moscow – the Bolshoi and the Maly. The burned-down Bolshoi Theater was reconstructed in 1856, and the role of theater studios and amateur theaters is increasing in the conditions of monopoly^[13]. Theaters continue to develop and transform in already formed historical hubs.  Mostly new theaters are being converted into mansions in the core of the city. The personification of this phenomenon is the Chamber Theater of merchant Lianozov on Kamergersky Lane, in 1902, after the reconstruction of the building by Fyodor Osimovich Shechtel, the Moscow Art Theater settled here ^{[9, p.49]}. The first circus appears^[14]. For the first time at this stage, it is possible to trace the regional trend towards grouping theaters, their greatest concentration in the Tver and Arbat districts.

fig.4. Theaters of Moscow in the middle of the XIX century – the beginning of the XX century.

Conclusions:

The evolution of the placement of theaters from the end of the late 17th century to the beginning of the early 20th century has demonstrated that their placement has a beneficial effect on the structuring of the urban fabric and cultural space. The theaters of that time gravitated towards the historically formed core of the city. In the process of evolutionary development, they moved from local foci to a linear structure, and subsequently to a regional one. The modern consolidation of the Moscow theater center takes place according to the principles of the beginning of the XX century. New and small stages are opening with existing theater empires within a 5-minute walking distance from the main stage. New spatial forms (theater yards) are being organized.

On the contrary, the city is growing disproportionately to the core. There is a need for a systematic approach to the organization of theatrical life on the periphery. In the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation dated 12/24/2014 No. 808 (ed. dated 01/25/2023) "On approval of the Foundations of the State Cultural Policy", one of the goals of the state cultural policy is to "ensure citizens' access to knowledge, information, cultural values and benefits". At the same time, one of the principles is "territorial and social equality of citizens, including citizens with disabilities, in the realization of the right to access cultural values, participate in cultural life and use cultural organizations." After the expansion of Moscow in 2011, the issue of providing residents of New Moscow with cultural life is acute. In order to respond to challenges and problems in a timely manner, it is necessary to develop a comprehensive urban planning strategy in the long term aimed at improving the quality of the cultural environment of the city, through the placement of new theater complexes, as well as the spatial reorganization of old ones, especially in the peripheral areas of the city and the former post-industrial spaces of modern Moscow.