Dom Kino (House Of The Cinema) in St Petersburg
Address:
St Petersburg, Karavannaya st., 12
Working time:
Monday - Sunday: 10:00 - 22:00
Description
The palace-type massive building with columns is located at ulitsa Karavannaya (formerly Tolmachyova), 12. It encloses the ensemble of Manezhnaya Ploshchad in St. Petersburg, listed in the central building of the northern capital, on the World Heritage List. The building attracts the attention of anyone who enters the square - the majesty of the building, neon lights, bright movie posters and shop windows. This is a famous House of Cinema (Dom Kino) in the city, originally - the building of the Petrograd Provincial Credit Society. The cartouche of the building still retains the medieval symbolism of usury. It was built on the site of the Russian Christian Humanitarian Institute, where, at the turn of the century, a literary and artistic circle worked under the chairmanship of A.S. Suvorin.
The building of the institute was rebuilt according to the design of young architects, graduates of the Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts B. Botkin and K. Bobrovsky in 1914-1916. The authors have conceived it in the nature of a Venetian palazzo in a late Palladian architecture (Neo-Renaissance) 16th century - the broad staircase with statues of seated griffins, ornate gold facade, ceramic capitals of Corinthian half-columns, modillions crowning cornice, a five-meter composition with garlands of fruit and a pair of winged lions on the roof.
In addition to the credit bank, for commercial reasons, there were also shops, a concert hall and a cinema in the mezzanine. The latter determined the fate of this building. It was called the Splendid Palace (Velikolepny Dvorets), opened in 1917, and immediately became the best of 13 cinematographs in Petrograd.
It was here, on November 7, 1918, that the first Soviet feature film “Sealing” premiered, and in 1924 the future Soviet composer worked as a taper in the evenings, and in those years a student at the conservatory, DD. Shostakovich. In 1932, the Splendid Palace was renamed the Rot Front, which in 1937 became the first children's cinema in the city. Immediately after World War II, the building was repaired. In June 1948, a new children's cinema Rodina was opened here.
In 1959, a new capital reconstruction of the building was carried out, the auditorium was restored. Since 1960, the cinema center "Union of Cinematographers of St. Petersburg" (Soyuz kinematografistov Sankt-Petersburg) and the famous cinema hall of the Dom Kino for 396 seats began to work here. In 2001, the St. Petersburg Cinema Museum was opened in the building of the Dom Kino ; retrospective and cyclical views of Russian, Soviet and foreign classical cinema are held here.
The cinema center Dom Kino is today considered to be the only cinema oriented exclusively to the display of “intellectual” cinema. He positions himself as a “not-for-all” cinema, demonstrates cult films, organizes festivals, introduces viewers to new art house projects, spends weeks of national cinema, etc. Dom Kino is included in the Unified State Register as an object of cultural heritage of regional significance. Now the building is almost completely renovated, gilding has been revived, and perhaps in the near future, the Dom Kino will be merged with the Rodina cinema center into a single festival center.
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