Irkutsk House of Public Assembly, Youth theatre near Karl Marx Street, Irkutsk, Russia
The Irkutsk House of Public Assembly is a theatre building containing multiple performance spaces with ornate architectural details, columns, and traditional theatrical lanterns throughout its structure. These different performance areas allow the venue to host various productions simultaneously and accommodate different audience sizes.
The foundation was laid on 27 June 1890 at the corner of Amurskaya and Arsenalnaya streets to a design by architect Vladimir Rassushin, and construction was completed in 1891. In 1901–1902 a large concert and theatre hall was added, also by Rassushin. In 2006 the Irkutsk Young Spectators' Theatre moved here from its former home at Lenin Street 13.
The theatre carries the name of Irkutsk playwright Alexander Vampilov since 1987; his plays "Farewell in June", "The Elder Son" and "Last Summer in Chulimsk" are staged here. The theatre set a memorial stone at the site of Vampilov's death, and in the mid-1980s its actors wrote poems dedicated to him. Its repertoire moved from the 1930s agitational revues to Russian classics and fairy-tale drama.
The theatre occupies the corner of Lenina and Dzerzhinskogo streets in the historic centre, in the former First Public Assembly building it has shared since 2006 with the Irkutsk Philharmonic. The main building at Lenina 13, its home since 1934, closed for reconstruction in 2006, so check which entrance and hall a performance uses.
The building's concert-theatre hall was added in 1901–1902 to a design by architect Vladimir Rassushin, who had also drawn up the original 1890 project. It opened on the evening of 8 January 1903 in the presence of Governor-General A. I. Panteleyev and Governor I. P. Mollerius with their wives.
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