✨ Durov Animal Theatre (Grandpa Durov's Corner)

ул. Дурова, 4

An animal theater founded by the trainer Vladimir Durov in 1912, with a small museum of the family's history.

The mansion on the former Staraya Bozhedomka was built in 1894 by the Austrian architect August Weber, and Durov bought it in 1908 and converted it into a home for animals.
At its opening in 1912 there was the 90-seat "Kroshka" theater, a natural science museum and a laboratory for observing animals.
Durov developed a system of gentle training based on humane treatment of animals.
In 1924–1931 Alexander Chizhevsky, author of the "Chizhevsky chandelier", worked in the Corner's laboratory.
The museum's "Durov Railway", with a locomotive from the Putilov plant: in the act, monkeys were the engineers, a bear was the porter and a bulldog was the station master.
The museum is set up in the rooms where Durov lived with his family, and figurines of prehistoric animals he modeled stand on the main staircase.
In November 2022 the theater's new stage with a 450-seat amphitheater opened on Durova Street.