Monthly Archives: April 2018
The most famous mile in the world
The Principality of Monaco is just 1.95 km2 and it is without a doubt the most famous square mile on the planet. Situated on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, at the southern border of France, the tiny principality seemed to win the heavenly lottery – there is simply no better place for an elite European holiday. The beautiful sea, the sun shines 300 days a year, a minimum of cloudy weather, mild climate, a stone’s throw from French and Italian attractions, and the principality itself is literally crammed with monuments of architecture and culture. Here, even restaurants and casinos have such a celebrity-rich history that they have long become cultural objects of the first magnitude.
The Principality is not an independent state, but a protectorate, and formally belongs to its closest neighbor, France. Continue reading
The legendary king of the opera Monte Carlo (part 2)
The opera premiered on February 24, 1910 and was greeted with delight. There is no place in this article to analyze this work of Massenet. For us, one thing is important: the ability of Gunsburg to initiate and implement interesting ideas, thanks to which the history of culture is enriched. By his indefatigability, he reminds Sergey Diaghilev. These two people lived in the same era, their paths could not help but intersect, and they crossed!
The first creative meeting of two prominent theatrical figures took place in 1911, when the Diaghilev ballet troupe first performed in Monte Carlo. That season Giselle, Scheherazade, Polovtsian Dances, Vision of the Rose and Narcissus were given with the participation of T. Karsavina, V. Nizhinsky, O. Preobrazhenskaya, A. Bolma and other outstanding dancers. So the names of such Diaghilev’s associates such as M. Fokin, L. Bakst, A. Benois entered the history of the theater. Continue reading
