In line with tradition, prior to the opening of each season the chandelier in the old Mariinsky Theatre is cleaned.
The one-and-a-half ton beauty descends from the theatre heavens just once a year. Lowering the chandelier on its twenty-metre-long chain takes some fifteen minutes. Staff from the theatre’s electrical and technical service await its descent to the floor of the stalls and, in a few hours, will have given the twenty-three thousand crystal pendants a dazzling sheen and replaced two hundred and twelve light bulbs.
In the 19th century the lowering and raising of chandeliers could be seen much more frequently: prior to every performance they had to be filled with oil. This evening lighting procedure was a fire hazard, and this is what caused the Circus Theatre to burn down in 1859. In order to ensure the safety of the audience at the Mariinsky Theatre (which replaced the Circus Theatre) the new British-made chandelier featured numerous technical improvements: the frame was made lighter, and instead of oil lamps gas torches were used; these were later replaced with incandescent lamps. In 1886 the Mariinsky Theatre installed electric lighting and today the chandelier needs merely to be washed, polished and loved.
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