National Opera Theatre, Kiev, Ukraine, Europe

Getty Images/Robert Harding World Imagery

Taras Shevchenko National Opera Theatre

Top choice in Kyiv


Performances at this lavish theatre (opened 1901) are grandiose affairs, but tickets are cheap. True disciples of Ukrainian culture should not miss a performance of Zaporozhets za Dunaem (Zaporizhzhyans Beyond the Danube), a sort of operatic, purely Ukrainian version of Fiddler on the Roof.

It was during a performance here in 1911 that young terrorist Dmitry Bogrov shot progressive Russian prime minister Pyotr Stolypin, which many believe predetermined Russia's plunge into revolutionary chaos.


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