Fire damages historic Moscow theatre
A blaze severely damaged a historic music and dance theatre in central Moscow early today but nobody was hurt, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. The fire broke out in the Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko musical theatre around 3:30 am and was extinguished about three hours later, said ministry spokesman Viktor Beltsov. The stage and spectators' hall was gutted, Beltsov said. The theatre's outer walls remained standing but part of the roof collapsed, Russian news agencies reported.
A firefighter told state-controlled Channel One television that the fire had been contained in the old part of the theatre, where it broke out, and was prevented from entering the newly constructed sections. The theatre had been closed for renovation after a fire in summer 2003. The theatre was formed in the 1941 merger of opera and dance troupes headed by Konstantin Stanislavsky and Vladimir Nemirovich-Danchenko, both giants in the Russian performing arts world.