Curtain of the Lviv Opera House

There is a very interesting legend about the wonderful "Parnassus" curtain, which has been regularly serving the theater for over a hundred years. When the construction of the theater was nearing completion, the founders of the Opera decided that the curtain should be as pompous and solemn as the theater itself. And they sent expert experts to the theaters of Europe to choose a curtain sample that would suit Lvov the most. Most of all, the ambassadors liked the curtains at the Milan theater and the theater in Krakow. As it turned out, their author was the famous artist Henrik Semiradsky (a Pole from Ukraine). The theater curtain was ordered to him.
One of the artist's last paintings is the Curtain of the Lviv Opera House. The first time he sank above the stage on January 13, 1901. The name "Muses on Parnassus" is often found in guidebooks. But it is not so. The curtain does not depict muses, but allegorical figures. The author explains its content in this way. “The content of the veil: Creativity, Life, Theater constitute the symbolic triad of the plot. At the foot of Mount Parnassus, against the background of the Temple of Apollo, the god of poetry and arts, the central figure of Inspiration is depicted in the form of the Pythia at the moment of prophecy. Nearby, the winged Fantasy, which is formed from the mysterious vapors that emerges from the depths of the earth, strives upward. On the other side of the Delphic tripod, on which the Pythia sits, there is Mind in the armor of Minevra with scales in hand - a symbol of balance. It complements and balances Fantasy in the act of conscious creation. On the right, against the background of a gloomy landscape, you can see a crowd of people chasing the ghosts of earthly happiness: Fortune, Glory, Love - the main springs of the world's tragicomedy. The allegorical figure of History with his left hand points to this insane pursuit, and in his right hand he holds a book with the words written on it: "It was so, it is so, will it always be so?" The figures of Tragedy and Comedy complete this group. Allegories of theatrical arts are depicted on the left. The opera is symbolized by a woman in a purple cloak, leaning on a harp and looking at Inspiration. Her dual nature is revealed by Poetry (with a lyre in her hand and a laurel wreath on her head) and Music in the form of a Siren, a half-bird, half-woman. Next to them is Operetta, a playfully smiling woman holding a lyre adorned with a comic mask. In the foreground, a girl with two cupids personifies the Dance. "