The theatre was named after Empress Alexandra, the wife of Nikolai I. It was built in 1832 under a project of Italian architect Karl Rossi who made a great contribution to the architecture of St. Petersburg.
Chepurov said that people preparing the building for restoration found some frescoes depicting heaven and stars under the plaster. They were painted in gold during the ruling of Empress Maria (1759-1828).
An old radiator with a laced monogram was also found under a thick layer of plaster. Surprisingly, it turned out to be still operating.
The theatre had a great number of archives. A book 'The Inspector-General' by Nikolai Gogol's that belonged to a theatre producer was found by restorers. It contained the authors notes and pieces of advice, which made it clear how the author wanted the play to be staged.
There were also evidences of the fee received by Anton Chekhov for the staging of his play at the Alexandrinsky Theatre.
It became known that an outstanding Russian poet, Alexander Pushkin, liked reading Russian plays and usually bought the third loge in the first circle of the theatre, while Nikolai Gogol preferred sitting in the ninth row.
Fyodor Dostoevsky, the author of novels 'The Idiot' and 'The Brothers Karamazov' was a theatre-goer and used to have two outside seats in the tenth row.
Deputy director of the theatre said all these invaluable findings had to be displayed to the public. The management of the theatre was considering the possibility of opening a museum.
