Critics question spending on billion-dollar Bolshoi facelift

The epic reconstruction of the Bolshoi Theater cost 1.5 times more than was previously thought. Despite 34.5 billion roubles ($1.1 billion) being spent on the massive facelift, critics insist the work was not worth that much money.

Russia’s Accounts Chamber announced the official figures on Tuesday. Most earlier estimates had put the total bill at around $700 million. Many experts believe that the actual work did not justify such spending.

"It turns out, that a square meter in the Boshoi Theatre cost almost ten times more than its European analogues … Yet it still can’t be named the most high-tech, cutting-edge or the biggest in the world,” Russian business news website BFM.ru quotes architecture historian Grigory Revzin as saying.      Read Full