The building of the Stara Zagora Opera - half a century old
News публикувана на: 12.03.2021
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March 14 marks the 50th anniversary of the opening of the new building of the State Opera Stara Zagora. The entire opera and ballet season is dedicated to this anniversary and a number of events are planned. The first of them is on 18 March at 11.00 a.m., when a memorial plaque to one of the founders of the Stara Zagora Opera - Zlatan Stanchev - will be placed next to the official entrance of the Opera House /facingthe Antique Street/. The memorial plaque was made by the Stara Zagora sculptor Nasko Nastev. Emilia Zhunich has prepared an interesting biographical material about Zlatan Stanchev and a small photo-documentary exhibition.
The article written especially for the half-centenary by Prof. Dr. Svetla Dimitrova recalls interesting facts about the largest and most modern building on the Balkan Peninsula for its time, built especially for the Opera.
Little is known about the building of the Stara Zagora Opera...
Prof. Dr. Svetla Dimitrova
There are probably not many who know that one of the most famous city leaders - Yordan Kapsamunov first proposed the construction of an opera building in Stara Zagora. He was mayor of the town from December 1952 to March 1962. He loves opera, invites famous performers andleads a long struggle to realize his dream - a large representative opera building in Stara Zagora. At that time, opera performances were given in the old theatre. There, the collective was forced to rehearse together with the drama ensemble and often "sparks flew" between them. After repeated talks with ministers in Sofia, the mayor secured permission to begin construction of a new building. It was planned for 1955. The project was designed by the architect Draganov from Stara Zagora, working in Glavproekt - Sofia. He used the building of the famous La Scala as a model. The opera house was built in Milan in 1776-1778. In the Stara Zagora newspaper Septemvri a drawing of the future building was published. For a long time, however, the necessary funds were not allocated, although every year J. Kapsamunov wrote letters to the State Planning Commission. In 1955, the mayor of Stara Zagora sent a statement to the deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers Anton Yugov, in 1957 - to the minister of education and culture Valko Chervenkov, in 1958 - to Todor Zhivkov, then the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party. By the end of his mayoralty in 1962, J. Kapsamunov had failed to arrange funding. In the meantime the designer Draganov went to work in Tunisia and communication with him became difficult. The new local city management commissioned another team to draw up a design brief based on a model of an opera house in the so-called "socialist" part of Germany. The chief designer was arch. Mikhail Sokolovsky (1927-2010), and the designers - arch. Boris Kamilarov (1932-2004) and arch. Tsanko StefanovHadzhistoychev (1927). The constructor is eng. Lyubomir Sabev. The latter two were involved in the reconstruction of the opera house after it burned down in 1991.
Construction of the new opera house began in 1964 with an initial bill of BGN 1 200 000. In 1969 it was adjusted to BGN 2 508 000. The investor was the City People's Council. A benchmark for the boldness of the undertaking may be the amount of the average wage in the country in 1969, which amounted to BGN 117. The building was constructed in the city centre and attracts attention with its various volumetric forms and plastic solutions.
The façade decoration of the building is the work of the sculptors Galin Malakchiev (1931-1987), Krum Damyanov (1937) and Valentin Starchev (1935). All three were still young but talented and unconventional artists. In the following decades they would establish themselves as some of the biggest names in their fields. Krum Damyanov will continue the link with Stara Zagora as the author of the monument The Defenders of Stara Zagora, and Valentin Starchev, for whom the city is his birthplace, will leave his handwriting on the monument to Metropolitan Methodius and the monument to the Brothers' Mound. The three sculptors also made the emblem of the main facade called "Lira and sounds", which is made of aluminum plates. They receive 12 000 BGN for the design, execution and installation of the facade decoration. Another BGN 22 000 were paid for the decorative gateways, which were also decorated with aluminium plates. They connect the cash desk with the cloakroom vestibule.
In the new opera house, crystal stained glass from Czechoslovakia was supplied at a cost of about $4,000.The mirrors in the cloakroom vestibule, shaped like columns, were also imported. The lighting in the foyer around the auditorium is provided by globes made of crystal rods, which diffuse the light and give a solemn effect. They are suspended from the ceiling singly, on convex pyramids. Elsewhere but in recessed pyramids are mounted light rosettes. The ceiling is dark blue and the floor is beige carpet. The lobby has been described by specialists as "a magnificence of solemn colours, forms and lines". The connection between the main foyer and the gallery to the balcony of the hall, connected by a free-standing staircase, contributes to this definition.
The monumental decoration inside consists of hexagonal tapestries woven from wool at the state-owned wool-textile mill "Dimitar Blagoev" in Kazanlak. The authors of the scenes on the tapestries are the great Bulgarian artist, then associate professor, Marin Varbanov (1932-1989) and his wife, the Chinese artist Sun Huai Kui (1937-2006). Marin Varbanov was a lecturer in textiles at the Art Academy "N. Pavlovich, one of the founders of the Department of Textiles at the Hanzhou Art Academy in China, a lecturer at the Paris Academy of Arts, and the first artist to take the art of textiles out of the standard two dimensions and into a three-dimensional work. The compositions are dedicated to the history of the city and to art. For their work, the two artists received a fee of 49,000 leva. Journalists who entered the building after the fire in 1991 saw that the tapestries on the walls had not burned, but were only smoky and sagging. But then they disappeared. To this day, their fate is unknown.
Another element of the interior decoration is a decorative-monumental ceramic panel on the theme of the ancient history of Stara Zagoradesigned by prof. Dechko Uzunov (1899-1986). He received BGN 11 000 for the design, production and installation.
The state enterprise "Sabi Dimitrov" in Sliven was commissioned to make 1700 metres of black cotton plush and 300 metres of silk plush for the interior furnishings. The enterprise is its largest producer, but also works felt, velvet and carpets. The Sabi Dimitrov enterprise was also given the task of producing the necessary carpet - 1,400 square metres in green and 700 square metres in blue. The chairs in the hall were ordered from the Tonet labour and production cooperative in Sofia, which specialises in the production of specific furniture. The textiles for the upholstery of the chairs were provided by the NIC of Textile Industry in Sofia. The fans were imported from the USSR, the lower stage equipment and the orchestra from the GDR, the light regulator from Poland. The upper stage equipment was manufactured in the Osvobojdenie cooperative in Sofia. A contract was signed with the Research Institute of Cinematography and Radio for the development, manufacture, installation and adjustment of the electroacoustic equipment. The stage, although not very large was modern for its time. It is equipped with movable platforms on both sides and a revolving circle at the bottom with a diameter of 12 m, which also occupies an inclined position of up to 10 degrees. In addition to a main stage 22 m high and an almost square base measuring 19/18 m, there is a small back stage and two side stages. A large curtain is installed and eight more curtains that can be lowered when needed. On either side of the stage, east and north, are rehearsal rooms and make-up and administrative spaces. The orchestra room also has a removable floor. It rises to two levels, either to the stage or to the auditorium level. In this way, there is the possibility to expand the stage or increase the seats in the hall. The facts listed above show that no expense was spared in equipping the building and the best was sought in the limited, within the socialist camp, market.The local management invited some of the best artists and sculptors as designers and contractors. According to specialists, however, the great creative achievements in the construction of the opera house were to be found in the "volumetric treatment, spatial construction and decorative framing".
The roof of the building is made of copper sheet, which was executed in the non-ferrous metal works "Dimitry Ganev" in Iskar station. For the cladding, massed and polished granite and polished marble were used.
The new opera house was inaugurated on 14 March 1971. The ribbon was cut by the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Chairman of the State Planning Committee, Tano Tsolov. The opera house has 830 seats, of which 250 are in the balcony. It is equipped and furnished in the spirit of the latest technical achievements. For its time it was the largest and most modern opera and theatre building in the Balkans. An interesting description and analysis of its different parts is made by Assoc. Matej Mateev, chief architect of the city of Sofia. His article in the magazine Architecture from 1972 is richly illustrated with photographs and drawings that highlight all the interesting elements of the building.
In 1991, just on the holiday of Stara Zagora - October 5, a fire burned down the opera house. The reinforced concrete structures, roof slabs and beams were strengthened, new steel structures of lighting bridges and galleries and upper stage machinery were built. To better protect the roof, new thermal and waterproofing was installed. Changes were made to the auditorium, with the amphitheatre balcony being rebuilt. Because of the changes, the auditorium seating was reduced to 605. Of the interior decoration, the panel by Dechko Uzunov left after the fire was restored. Specialists from the town of Uzunov have been restored. Dresden in Germany restored the lower stage machinery. New artistic lighting with a modern control system was supplied. The contractor is the Sofia company Vahs Ltd.
During the fire in 1991 another valuable Stara Zagora relic was burnt in the opera house. This is the one painted in 1914 by the artists N. Kozhuharov and D. Gudjenov. Its image has come down to us thanks to the painting-project of N. Kozhuharov, which today is part of the funds of the art gallery in Stara Zagora. It is published in the luxurious album of prof. Marin Dobrev "The Artists of Stara Zagora".
The actor Nino Lukanov tells us interesting details about the curtain of the Old Theatre. A vivid memory of this important theatrical attribute is imprinted in his mind. After the opening of the new opera house (1971), the Geo Milev Theatre began to perform there. This necessitated that much of the props be transferred there. During the move, they found a large canvas in a recess. After carefully unfolding it they saw on it the images of seven muses and a god. They realised that it was the curtain of the theatre, painted by Nikola Kozhuharov and Dimitar Gudjenov. According to Nino Lukanov, the canvas was relatively well preserved, but to preserve it even better, at his suggestion, they rolled it up and carried it to the room designated as the theatre's library. A few years later, the director Dimitar Stoyanov decided to stage St. Kostov's play "Comedy Without a Name" in Stara Zagora. Nino Lukanov mentioned to him that the old curtain of the theatre could be used as a set, which the director liked very much. After one or two performances the fabric could not withstand the tension and in order not to tear it, the curtain was put away again. At that time in Stara Zagora was on business prof. Vera Dinova-Ruseva, author of the fundamental work "Bulgarian Scenography 1846-1947". Nino Lukanov showed her the curtain. After carefully examining the drawings on it, she determined that for about 5000 leva, the curtain could be restored. As the sum was not found, the curtain continued to stand in the opera house, in the room designated as the theatre's library. In the 1991 fire at the opera house, the place was badly affected by the fire and, according to N. Lukanov, the curtain was burnt.
Professor Svetla Dimitrova
