The Mariinsky Theatre opened on October 2, 1860, on Theatre Square in Saint Petersburg. Albert Cavos designed it, and it was named for Empress Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Alexander II. Cavos had already renovated the nearby Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre, designed by Antonio Rinaldi, in 1836. He had also designed an equestrian circus on the square, opened on January 29, 1849, to double as a theatre.
In 1886 the Imperial Ballet and Opera moved to the Mariinsky, because the Bolshoi Kamenny was considered unsafe. Boris Godunov premiered here in 1874, The Queen of Spades in 1890 and Iolanta in 1892. It was the Kirov State Academic Theatre from 1935 to 1992.
Xavier Fabre designed a concert hall, opened in 2007. Mariinsky II, by Diamond and Schmitt with KB ViPS, seats 1,830. It was completed in May 2013 for 500 million euros, after an earlier design by Jean Nouvel was halted.
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