MOSCOW (AFP) — The reopening of Russia's famed Bolshoi Theatre has been pushed back to 2011 due to delays in a costly renovation project, a spokeswoman for Russia's culture ministry said Monday.
Repairs of the Bolshoi's 19th-century main stage "will take longer than expected and might not be finished until the beginning of 2011," spokeswoman Natalya Uvarova told AFP.
Located near Red Square, the theatre closed in 2005 for a 700-million-dollar renovation project that was originally expected to be finished this year, but the end date was later pushed back to 2009.
The latest delay "is explained mainly by the ground quality, which made it necessary to reinforce the foundations further," Uvarova said.
In an interview with the Izvestia daily on Monday, Russian Culture Minister Alexander Avdeyev blamed the delays on poor management and the complexity of the project, which he said involves dozens of subcontractors and 700 workers.
The Bolshoi's main stage, built between 1821 and 1825, had long been in need of major repairs when it closed three years ago, with visible cracks on the facade and performers hampered by a lack of backstage space.
The renovations are to create a vast underground space for dressing rooms, modernise the stage and repair the acoustics which were damaged during the construction of the Moscow metro in the 1930s.
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