Historical Background
The site of the Gostiny Dvor (merchants' arcade) and the City Duma building shown in the photo is now occupied by the Tver Regional Academic Drama Theater. The decision to build a stone Gostiny Dvor on the site of the old trading rows that burned in the fire of 1763 was made immediately afterward. Construction was financed with funds allocated by decree of Catherine II and lasted from 1765 to 1772. The new Gostiny Dvor took up an entire large block, laid out on the plan of a major shopping center of the time. Later the building was destroyed again, a consequence of the city's occupation by Nazi German troops. Part of the building was reconstructed after the war and survives today. The theater building, however, was completely rebuilt by the architects A. P. Maksimov and P. V. Kukhtenkov. It reopened only in 1951, with a new look and a hall seating 800.




