• The Bolshoi Theater was built in 1776 and its first company consisted of 22 opera singers, three ballet dancers, a choreographer and 13 musicians.

• In 1853 the theater burned down and a new one was built in 1856.

• No major repair work has been carried out at the venue for two centuries.

• The theater is regarded as one of the world’s most important objects of culture.

• The Russian government recently announced that it was to pump USD 190 million into restoring the theatre.

• The theater’s eight-column entrance is topped by a figure of Apollo driving a chariot.

• The venue stands on a piece of land which was once flooded by the Neglinka river.