St. Petersburg’s Mariinsky Theatre unveiled architectural proposals for the theatre’s expansion. They weren’t received well. “Such extravagant and eccentric ideas have frayed tempers in a city celebrated for its baroque architecture. The competition caps last month’s lavish 300th birthday of Russia’s cultural capital. The government will pay £66m towards the project, which will link the new building – on the site of the Palace of Culture in Honour of the [Soviet] First Five Year Plan – to the old Mariinsky building (formerly known as the Kirov, and home to the ballet company) via a bridge on the Kryukov canal. The spending is criticised in a region facing poverty and unemployment.”