Bolshoi Theatre, Moscow

The Historic Stage of the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow in January 2020, its gold curtain down between tier upon tier of red-and-gold boxes, with the orchestra pit lit below. Even with the curtain closed, the sheer amount of gold makes it look like an imperial jewel case. Joseph Bové's theater opened in 1825. After a fire in 1853, Alberto Cavos rebuilt and reshaped it, and it reopened in 1856. A six-year restoration, closed from 2005, brought back the 19th-century decoration and tried to undo Soviet-era changes that had hurt the acoustics; the house reopened on October 28, 2011. Most visitors come for the ballet, but the Bolshoi is an opera house too.