Bolshoi's story

The company was founded in 1776 by Prince Peter Urussov and Michael Maddox. Initially it gave performances in a private home, but in 1780 it acquired the Petrovka Theatre and began producing plays and operas.
Main Hall of the Bolshoi Theatre
The current building was built on Teatralnaya Square in 1825 to replace the Petrovka Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire in 1805. It was designed by architect Osip (Joseph) Bove, who had built the nearby Maly Theatre in 1824. At that time, all the Russian theatres were imperial property.
In Moscow and St Petersburg, there were two theatres only, one of them intended for opera and ballet (these were known as the Bolshoi Theatres) and another one for tragedies and comedies. As opera and ballet were considered nobler than drama, the opera house was named the "Grand Theatre" ("Bolshoi" being the Russian for "large" or "grand") and the drama theatre - "Smaller Theatre" ("Maly" being the Russian for "little").
The Bolshoi Theatre's original name was the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre of Moscow, while the St. Petersburg Bolshoi Theatre's (demolished in 1886) name was Imperial Bolshoi Kamenn Theatre.
The theatre was inaugurated on 18 January 1825. Initially it presented only Russian works, but foreign composers entered the repertoire starting from 1840. A fire in 1853 caused extensive damage; reconstruction was carried out by Albert Kavos, son of Caterino Kavos, an opera composer, and reopened in 1856. During World War II, the theatre was damaged by a bomb but was promptly repaired.
The Bolshoi has been the site of many historic premieres including Tchaikovsky's Voyevoda and Mazeppa, and Rachmaninoff's Aleko and Francesca da Rimini.