The city of Kharkov is one of the major industrial, commercial, scientific and cultural centres of Ukraine. Its present architectural pattern has been developing for more than three centuries and it has been influenced by varying conditions of life, habits and traditions of the Ukrainian people as well as those of some neighbouring nations. As buildings usually live much longer than human beings and even generations of people they inevitably become silent witnesses to their epochs. One may call them pages of stone chronicle of the past. This book offers one of the many approaches to deciphering some of this chronicle's pages and their tale of changing architectural styles, public tastes and life modes of our predecessors. The river Dnieper has always played a most important role in life and economic activities of the Ukrainian people. The river divides the country into two halves traditionally called the Left-Bank and the Right-Bank Ukraine. Great part of the former was devastated in the 13th century during the Tatar-Mongol aggression. It was afterwards called "Dikoye Polye" (the Field of Wilderness ). Though practically uninhabited it was supposed to belong to the Czar ofMoscow's lands.

In the 14th century the Right-Bank Ukraine and small regions on the left bank of the Dnieper were occupied by Poland and Lithuania, later united into Rzecz Pospolita (medieval Polish Republic ). Since the end of the 16th century and especially in the first half of the 17thc. many Ukrainian peasants and Cossacs (professional warriors who protected the Ukrainian people from attacks of the Crimean Tatars and often rebelled against the power of Polish Roman Catholic nobility) began to flee to desolate parts of the Left-Bank Ukraine. They sought protection against cruel oppression the Orthodox Ukrainians had experienced under Polish Roman Catholic rule. The exiles were allowed to inhabit in those far-away lands of Moscow State. They began growing crops, developing various trades and thus were interested in defending the borders from foreign invasions. They built villages, townships and fortresses. There were no big landlords on that territory then. Therefore this land (the northeastern part of the present-day Ukraine) was called Slobodskaya Ukraina, i. e. "Free Ukrainian Land".

In the 1650's a fortress was built on the bank of the river Kharkov and a small township of the same name grew around it. Quite soon it became the centre of a district and in the second half of the 18th century it was already the central town of a large province, Kharkov Governorate.

During the first 12 decades of its existence the town was self-governed. Its administration was elected by the Cossacs and headed by the Cossac Colonel, also an elected official. The Voyevoda (General) appointed by the Russian Government controlled only military affairs. The population was almost totally Ukrainian and it was only in the second quarter of the 19th century that it became multinational. In the 1770's Czarine Catherine abolished the autonomy of the Cossacs and divided Ukraine as well as the whole of Russian Empire into a number of provinces (governorates) headed by Governors appointed by the Monarch. This book contains a detailed description of the fortress of Kharkov, the nearby townships and villages which later merged into a single town. It also comments on the schemes of the town of the 18th century .

The main architectural trends of that period reflected the way of life described above. They evidently bore the features characteristic of the Ukrainian folk tradition. Unfortunately, many masterpieces of the time were greatly damaged or completely destroyed, especially during WW . Such was, for instance, the fate of the Collegium of Kharkov, the first higher educational establishment in Slobodskaya Ukraine.

One of the few building that have lived up to our days is the Cathedral of the Intercession of the Holy Virgin (1689), the first stone construction in Kharkov. It has been restored lately and now belongs as almost 3 centuries ago to the monastery of the same name.

Having been given the status of the provincial centre Kharkov acquired the features of a city with regular streets and squares, its development being planned in accordance with the then predominant trends in architecture and civil engineering. The general plans were usually worked out in St. Petersburg and then implemented by our local architects who but slightly corrected them according to the local grounds.

Since then the city has been developing rapidly. Its squares were surrounded with wooden or, more frequently, brick houses of one, two or even three storeys. The predominant style was the Russian Classicism. Former fortress was reconstructed first as it had lost its military significance by that time. By the beginning of the 19th century its ramparts and towers had been completely dismantled. Not far from a former fortress the main street of the city emerged, the Govenor-General's palace being built in it in 1768-1777. When in 1805 the University of Kharkov was founded it was housed in that building and some additional buildings for the University were erected on both sides of the street called from then on Universitetskaya Street. The Assumption Cathedral, the oldest in Kharkov, was built anew in 1778, and in 1821-1844 its magnificent belfry was erected to mark the victory of the Russian Army over Emperor Napoleon of France. Being 89,5 m (about 300 feet) high, the belfry remained the highest structure in Kharkov until recently. This belfry was indeed the finishing touch to the architectural composition of the city centre. A small square in front of the belfry was richly decorated with a big administrative building housing various official bodies that govened the province. That building, however, like many others does not exist nowedays having been destroyed by the Nazis. Instead of the walls and trenches of the fortress the city centre was encircled by a number of spacious squares which became market-places and were also used for popular festivals and recreation.

Little by little Kharkov grew and absorbed former suburbs, townships and villages which were turned into new districts of the city . The second period of Kharkov's history described above left us scores of public buildings and private houses as well as several churches. Those were designed by local architects A. A. Ton, F. A. Yaroslavsky, Ye. A. Vasilyev and some were built after designs worked out in St. Petersburg and Moscow. They reflect the gradual evolution of the Russian classical style from the early period when it kept many features of the Baroque to the stage of mature Classicism and at last to dry and unexpressive forms of a late Classical period.

In the second half of the 19th c. and at the beginning of the 20th c. Kharkov reached a new stage of a very intensive development. The abolition of serfdom in 1861 provided hands for industrial enterprises and various industries began to grow in Kharkov very rapidly. Industrial and commercial development of the city was further stimulated after Kharkov was linked in 1869 with Moscow, St. Petersburg and a number of other big cities by railway. Thus 1869 can be considered as the beginning of the third period in the history of Kharkov that lasted until the October revolution of 1917. The population of the city that constituted 40,000 in 1850, equalled 65,000 in 1869 and reached 382,000 in 1917. During that period many public buildings and industrial enterprises were built, some of them later were enlarged. New apartment houses and renthouses grew rapidly in various parts of the city .The growth of the city's territory required in its turn the creation of a city transport system, other branches of communal service were gradually improved and modernized to meet the demands of ever-increasing population. The Law on the Status of Cities and Towns adopted in 1870 essentially strengthened the basis of local self-govemment. This book maintains that that law influenced positively, among other things, spreading of literacy and primary education of adults.

That task was fulfilled by the organizations created by intellectuals, one of them being the Society for Dissemination of Literacy among Working People, founded in Kharkov. Besides, that many businessmen started sponsorship of cultural organizations, theatres etc. (In spite of all that 3/4 of the total population of the country remained illiterate until 1918). Ukrainian national culture generally suppressed by Russian Czars got then temporarily certain chances to revive and develop.

More than 30 Orthodox temples were built (this figure does not include home churches and chapels) as well as several synagogues, a Roman Catholic church, a Lutheran Evangelical church, a Moslem mosque and several houses of prayer for separate groups of other believers.

The monumental buildings of banks, the Stock exchange and the Commodity exchange added much to the beauty of cityscape. Fifteen banks occupied new magnificent buildings in the central squares of the city .New shops and textile mills also played their role in decorating the centre of Kharkov.

It was a period of intensive foundation of new educational establishments, which were housed in spacious and richly ornamented buildings. Some University faculties became independent Institutes occupying their own buildings. They were two Medical Institutes ( separately for men and women) and the Institute of Veterinary to name but some of them. The Technological Institute of Kharkov, one of the best in Russia, was founded in 1885. It grew quickly and new buildings for its departments were constantly erected creating a big campus not far from the central part of the city.

Gradually a wide network of primary and secondary schools appeared, among them several state-owned and private gymnasia (grammar schools in Russia), public schools, vocational schools, theological educational establishments, the Commercial college and the Noble Maidens Institution. Kharkovites have always loved theatre. The theatrical art of Kharkov is rooted in the long-standing people's love for singing, dancing and joking. Since the earliest times, there existed a folk theatre, which had originated in church miracle plays that were forced out from the church-porch to the market place.

In the course of the mid-nineteenth century's division of the theatrical art into genres, a separate opera theatre was being created gradually in Kharkov. There is documental evidence that the process had been preceded by drama actors' trying to stage operas themselves. In 1841, the first act of the opera by M.I. Glinka.

Molotkovsky who had quite a decent baritone. However, in most cases drama actors lacked vocal qualities good enough to perform opera parts and had to replace singing with recitative. Till the mid- 70ies of the last century , the Kharkov music lovers had to be content only with guest-performances by the Italian opera singers. Meeting the spectators' demands the theatrical manager N.N. Dyukov invited the opera company of F.Berger from Kiev to give 39 performances in Kharkov. "A Life for the Tsar" by M. Glinka and "The Free Shot" by K.M. Veber were the most popular with the public. The performances were conducted by the composer K.P. Vilboa, the author of the opera and of any popular romances. Some part of the performances was given by the company in the building of the so-called Maly theatre built in the ensemble of premises in the northern part of the former Torgovaya square (Rosa Luxemburg square) on the bank of the river Lopan in 1872. The buildings, belonging to the heirs of the famous merchant Pavlov made up a big Grand Hotel (later on the Spartak hotel) which had existed till it was destroyed during the war of 1941-1945. The Maly theatre was built to the design of the architect B.I. 1ohanson -with a small but cosy three-circ1e auditorium, stage and orchestra pit. In 1874, an ardent music fan and a doctor by education, V. Ye. Pashchenko, having inherited quite a sum of money invested all his capital into construction of the first in Kharkov stationary opera house into which P.G. Berger's company moved. The theatre with a spacious stage and four-circle hall for 930 seats was located at the comer of Yekaterinoslavskaya street (Poltavskiy Shiyakh street) and the Lopan embankment.

The building constructed to the architect B.G. Mikhalovsky's design was wooden and temporary, it was allowed to put it into service only for a six-year period. The first play was given on the 26th of December in 1874. The company comprised such well-known singers of the time as Purer, Sokolov, Rappoport, Vilinskaya and others. Profits from the plays, however, appeared to be rather small, and the theatrical manager P.G. Berger went bankrupt. Pashchenko, the owner of the building who replaced Berger at his post, also broke and had to sell it for next to nothing and leave Kharkov. P or some time, the theatre building was rented in turn by different opera and drama companies. In 1880-1881, the opera was headed by the famous Kazan actor and impressario P .1. Medvedev. At the time of his supervision, the company consisted of such celebrities as singers Bayer, Svetlovskaya, P .1. Bogatyryov, Fredericci, and among them there shone the brilliant Y e.P .Kadmina who became the sorrowful legend of the Kharkov stage.

The talent of Yevlaliya Kadmina, who had, besides a marvelous mezzo-soprano voice, a dramatic gift rare for an opera singer, was admired by the audiences of Petersburg and Moscow in Russia, as well as by lovers of the opera art in Italy. Her voice was highly praised by P .1. Tchaikovsky .In 1880, Ye. Kadmina arrived in Kharkov by P. Medvedev's invitation. It is here that the tragedy occurred which roused all the theatrical Russia. The actress began losing her voice and had to switch to the drama stage where she acted in plays by w. Shakespear and A.N. Ostrovsky .The oppressive atmosphere of the backstage intrigues and unfaithfulness of the man she loved brought Kadmina to suicide.

She took poison during the interval when she was starring in the performance after A.N. Ostrovsky's play I. Vasilisa Melentyeva. The ashes of Y. P. Kadmina now rest in a Kharkov cemetery .The reactions to the actress's tragic passing away were a novella by I.S. Turgenev. After Death (Klara Milich), stories by A.N. Kuprin and N.S. Leskov, plays by A.S. Suvorin and N.N. Solovtsov, the roles played by Kadmina's contemporaries M.G. Savina and M.N. Yermolova.

In the middle of the 1880s, the first building of the opera theatre, ramshackle and fire-hazardous, was dismounted. For a while, opera performances were made on the stage of the Drama theatre, and in a wooden summer pavilion in the garden of the Commerce Club in Rymarskaya street N.21. But in 1891 that pavilion burnt down and was never rebuilt. The further development of the opera theatre is connected with using the premises of the Commerce Club. The Club was opened in 1858 in a building rented from Professor P .A. Slivitsky who kept a boarding-school to prepare candidates for University admission. After a while, the Club bought the building along with the plot of land around it and began to lease the premises for arranging various performances, concerts and parties. In 1871, the Club set up their own orchestra. In 1883, the wooden house faced with brick caught fire. During restoration work, a big new hall decorated like one of the halls in the Tuileries palace in Paris was annexed, to the architect B.G. Mikhalovsky's design. The decorative stucco moulding was made by the engineer Shiller's templates and under his own supervision. The ceiling was adorned with bas- relief portraits of the Russian composers and painted with allegorical pictures of agricultural, commercial and wine-making subjects. In 1886, the hall was illuminated with electric lighting, and in 1891, under B.G. Mikhalovsky's guidance, the stage was fitted out with the orchestra pit. This hall became the permanent place of work for the Kharkov opera company headed by the theatrical manager A.F. Kartavov from Vilno. The orchestra was conducted by V .1. Suk, the choir was directed by Kovallini. From the very first steps, the opera company included talented singers and musicians. Besides staging operas, they revived ballet performances which had been neglected, since the time of I.G. Stein, by the local performers who confined themselves to some dancing pieces inserted into their acting.

Well-known solbists from metropolitan and foreign theatres were frequent performers of plays staged in Kharkov. Guest-performances by whole companies never stopped in our city .F or example, in 1886 in the pavillion of the Commerce Club's garden, the Russian-Italian theatre company of S.I. Mamontov with N.I. Zabela-Vrubel (the wife of the artist M.A. Vrubel) as a star was performing there. Kharkov saw performances by the outstanding ballet dancers -the ballet companies of T. Ivanova, K. Bogdanov, a company from Poland led by M. Pion.

At the end of the 19th century , the opera theatre enjoyed great popularity in our city, which was to a considerable extent facilitated by the activity of the Kharkov Musical Society created on the initiative of the conductor and teacher 1.1. Slatin. The Musical school opened by the Society in 1883 succeeded in training singers, conductors and instrument-players for the theatre. The Society organized symphony and solo concerts in the building of the theatre and in other halls of the city .Besides local actors, many remarkable home and foreign performers were invited to take part in the concerts. On the initiative of the Musical Society , a symphony concert composed of musical works by P .1. Tchaikovsky was held in Kharkov, the genius composer himself conducting it.

The building of the Commerce Club housing the opera theatre was reconstructed many times. At the end of the 19th century , a new large foyer surrounded with columns was built to the architect M.I. Dashkevich's design. And in 1914, the second circle of boxes and the dress circle were constructed to increase the capacity of the auditorium (by the engineer V.S. Demidov and architect A. Torov).

In 1920 when the practice of private theatrical management was stopped, the theatre was transformed into the State Russian, and 5 years later into the State Ukrainian Opera. The first directors of the new theatre were v. Shtok and A. Lvov, the producer was 0. Altshuler. The ballet company was headed by P. lorkin. The best singers were invited to perform the leading parts here. They were accompanied by gifted pupils of the Musical school and Ballet school of N. Talyori-Dudinskaya. The Ballet school was situated in the former Kontorskaya street (now Krasnooktyabrskaya, 7). The school had produced such masters as v. Dulenko, I. German, A. Arkadyev, N. Peltser and other dancers who became renowned. Among the opera stars who sang in Kharkov, there was L. V .Sobinov , A. V. Nezhdanova, the Italians Maria Gay and D. Zonatello. The way to fame for M.O. Reizen, I.S. Kozlovsky , I.S. Patorzhinsky , M.I. Litvinenko- Volgemut also started in Kharkov. The orchestra was conducted by such maitres as A.M. Pazovsky , V. Berdyayev, N .A. Malko, L.P. Shteinberg, A. Morgulyan and others.

The ballet company was led by R. Balanotti who came from Odessa, choreography was staged by K. Ya. Goleizovsky arid M.F. Moiseyev. The part of Siegfreied in "The Swan Lake" was danced by the superb A.M. Messerer . The stage set by the artist A.G. Petritsky was bright and original. The theatre has made a weighty contribution to the development of the Ukrainian national opera. F or the first time the audience could appreciate, along with the classical musical works by N. Lysenko, such operas as "The Golden Hoop" by B.N. Lyatoshinsky, "Explosion" by B.K. Yanovsky, "Karmelyuk" by V. Kostenko. Combination of Ukrainian folk dance and classical choreography is the distinctive feature of the ballet "Pan Kanevsky" by M.I. Verikovsky who based his work on the folk song" About Bondarivna" .

By the early 30s of this century , the building of the theatre was reconstructed again. To the design of the architect V .K. Trotsenko, a big lobby with a cloak-room and auxiliary premises were built to service the main entrance to the theatre. The auditorium was reconstructed, too: the stage was rebuilt, and new floors were laid. But the fate of the opera house was not an easy one in the subsequent years. In 1934, the best actors moved to Kiev which became the capital of Ukraine, and in 1937 the Kharkov opera was transferred into the new building of the Krasnozavodskiy theatre in Moskovskiy avenue (near Vosstanie square). The old building was rebuilt once more -according to the architect V.N. Peti's design, the facade was shaped in the Empire style of the early 19th century. After the war, the building was able to see the new opera season because the premises of the Krasnozavodskiy theatre suffered still greater damage. The Opera was situated in Rymarskaya street No 19 till 1991 when the theatre moved into a new building at the crossroads of Sumskaya and Rymarskaya streets. The old building in a wrecking state was given to the long-suffering Kharkov Philharmonic Society , and its former foyer was made a concert hall. Construction of the new opera house has a long history , too. The idea of building a big musical theatre in Kharkov was born before the revolution of 1917. The project was supported by several producers, namely N.N. Sinelnikov. The realization of this plan was undertaken by some V.G. Lityagin and the Academician of architecture A.N. Beketov who tried to start a special joint-stock company for that purpose. A plot of land was chosen in Yekaterinoslavskaya street (Poltavskiy Shiyakh street) 13-15, where according to the conceptual design elaborated by Beketov, it was planned to erect the building of the theatre with an auditorium for 2200 seats and a well- developed stage. To ensure profitability, it was decided to include it into a complex of profit-yielding enterprises: a big restaurant, a cafeteria with a billiard-room, and two multi-storey residential buildings some apartments in which should be used by the actors. The war and revolution stopped the project. The question of erecting a magnificent "Theatre of mass musical events with an auditorium for 4000 seats" in Kharkov arose in the early 1930s, at the time of the city's rise as the capital. But when the capital moved to Kiev, the designing and construction work ceased. The section of Sumskaya street where the construction had been under way was occupied by the trolley-bus depot before the war, and after it a new park was made there with a beautiful "Zerkalnaya struya" fountain. The new opera house with the auditorium accomodating 1600 seats and a small hall for 400 seats was built across the road, just opposite the old site, only in 1991.