Where They Watched Films. Theaters in Belarus
1908–1910
Minsk • Pinsk • Brest • Vitebsk
By 1907 the movie theater business in the Russian Empire was growing. Historian of Russia Louise McReynolds describes the situation.
Louise McReynolds, Russia at Play
Early Russian-language film journals show that once the indigenous Russian film business started in 1908, theaters in Belarusian territory began to flourish.
Minsk Theaters
The Eden Cinema in Minsk, Zakharjewskaja street, beginning of the XXth century.
Source: https://poshyk.info/kino-history-minsk/
Based upon the haphazard reporting in Sine-Fono, it is difficult to tell how many theaters there were in Minsk and who owned them. On December 1, 1907 Sine-Fono referred to an Illyuziya [Illusion] in Minsk.2 We already know this was Stremer’s theater, as it was the only one we know of in Minsk at that time. On February 15 and March, Sine-Fono wrote about a theater it called — the Parizhskaya Illyuziya [Paris Illusion].3 In June 1908, Sine-Fono wrote that Z. Natanson ran the theater.4 We are sure that this was not a reference to Stremer’s theater because Stremer always named his theaters after himself.
On October 15, 1909, Sine-Fono said there were four theaters in Minsk, but only named three: The Edem [Eden], next to the Stremer theater; the Modern, run by a Mr. Gold, and the Illusion, as above, run by Natanson. Again, Sine-Fono does not call Stremer’s theater the Illusion.5 We also have undated plans for an Illusion cinema at Polyak house. The different location tells us it was not Stremer’s cinema.
NGAB Dmiti Kishlevich. To the left, rows of seats. Upper right, the faced of Polyak House.
Lower right, side view of the floor slant of the theatre and rows of seats.
Source: TUT.BY, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
NGAB Dmiti Kishlevich.
Source: NARB, fond 101, inv. 1, file 1740, doc. 186.
(For information on Minsk theaters from 1911-1914, click here)
Sine-Fono reported that the Gigant [Giant] theater would open in Minsk by March of 1910.6 By May 1910 Kine-Zhurnal reported that Giant was the “best working” cinema in Minsk.7
Minsk, Gubernatorskaya street. Beginning of the XXth century. Rakovschick House is on the corner on the right. Just past the police officer, over his right shoulder, is a white marquee which identifies it as the Modern cinema. (РНБ. Э ОТ63/1-М622 Эм 16521., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons).
Source: https://blizko.by/notes/samyy-bolshoy-samyy-staryy-i-samyy-nezhuyuschiy-vspominaem-interesnye-i-neobychnye-kinoteatry-minska_vg
Pinsk
Pinsk, Bernardynska street, beginning of the XX century.
Source: https://pl.planetabelarus.by/publications/kak-menyalis-goroda-belarusi-stolitsa-polesya-pinsk/
The early journals only mention a Pinsk theater because the only cinema in town closed. In an apparent reference to the October 1909 Stremer theater fire in Minsk, Minskoye Slovo wrote:
"Recently an event happened to us. Our cinema died a shameful death, but not to any one biographer. Surely, the courage of some finally burst. There was already a painful smell, as they say in Minsk, of Stremershchina.”8
We’ll have more on the Stremer fire later.
Brest
Brest, Illusion electro-theater in Kobrinz house, 1910.
Source: https://www.realbrest.by/novosti/istorija-bresta/kinoteatry-dovoennogo-bresta.html
Nastoyashchiy Brest [Real Brest] wrote that the first cinema appeared in Brest in 1909, but the name has been lost.9
By May of 1910, Brest had four cinema theaters: the Illusion, the Fantaziya [Fantasia], the Oazis [Oasis], and the Orion.10
Real Brest wrote that in 1911 there were three theaters: the Illusion was probably in the Kobrintz House and the Fantasia, in the Birshtein House, both on Shossenaya Street (now Masherov Avenue). The third is only described as “in the fortress.11
Vitebsk
Vitebsk, the building that housed the first cinema, photo by Sigismund Yurkovsky. Late XIXth century.
Source: https://fotokrok.org/yurkovsky
In 1905, Vitebsk opened its first cinema, called the Rekord [Record].12 Today it is called Dom Kino and is the oldest cinema in Belarus.13 In 1907, Sine-Fono reported that there was a theater called the Moskovskaya elektricheskaya [Moscow Electrical].14
Sine-Fono and Kino-Zhurnal reported that by April of 1910, the Illusion, run by Levinsky, was open.15 In October, there was mention of a Lotus, operated by Suzhomilov.16 In November, there is a mention of the Elektrogigant-teatr [Electro-Giant-Theater].17
In 2020, reporter Anastasia Veresek wrote in the Vitebskiy kur'yer [Vitebsk Courier] that there were six cinemas in Vitebsk “in the 1910s”: “The Record, Odeon, KinoArs, Illusion, Fakel [Torch] and Khudozhestvennyy [Artistic].”18 A Sine-Fono article from 1910 named the Giant, instead of the Torch.19
Vitebsk News newspaper, 1909
1 McReynolds, Louise, Russia at Play, Cornell University Press (2003), p. 266. Accessed at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/ 10.7591/j.ctv2n7knt. In her footnote, McReynolds wrote “The paperwork for applications and investigations has been maintained in the Moscow City Archive, f. 46.
2 Sine-Fono [Сине Фоно; Cine-Phono], No. 3, 1 Dec. 1907, p.11.
3 Sine-Fono No. 7, 15 Feb. 1908, p. 11 and No. 9, 15 Mar. 1908, p. 10.
4 Sine-Fono No. 15, 15 June 1908, p. 12.
5 Sine-Fono No. 2, 15 Oct. 1909, p. 13.
6 Sine-Fono No. 12, 15 Mar. 1910, p. 11.
7 Kine-Zhurnal [Кине-Журнал; Cinema Journa], No. 8, 8 May 1910, p. 9.
8 Sine-Fono No. 1, 1 Oct. 1910, p. 14-15. More on the Stremer fire in a later article.
9 «Kinoteatry dovoyennogo Bresta» [Кино довоенного Бреста: Cinemas of Pre-War Brest]. Nastoyashchiy Brest [Настоящий Брест; Real Brest], 11 Sept. 2021. https://www.realbrest.by/novosti/istorija-bresta/kinoteatry-dovoennogo-bresta.html Accessed March 8, 2025. Cites: Moroz, V., and V. Exhelov Ot Berest'ya do Bresty: iz veka v vek [От Берестья до Бреста: из века в век: From Berestye to Brest: from century to century]. Accessed March 8, 2025.
10 Кине-Журнал (Kine-Zhurnal) [Cinema Journal], No. 7, 23 Apr. 1910, p 10.
11 "Cinemas of Pre-War Brest."
12 "Dom Kino" [Дом Кино: Cinema House] CBSVIT. Updated June 13, 2023. https://www.cbsvit.by/index.php/2012-05-10-07-15-06/gorodskie-istorii/4290-dom-kino Accessed March 7, 2025.
13Vasilech, Artemiy «Znayete li vy, chto pervyy kinopokaz v Belarusi sostoyalsya v Vitebske v 1898 godu?» «Знаете ли вы, что первый кинопоказ в Беларуси состоялся в Витебске в 1898 году?»: Did you know that the first film screening in Belarus took place in Vitebsk in 1898?] SB.by hhttps://www.sb.by/author/1567039-artemiy-vasilevich-20230412/ Accessed March 8, 2025.
14 Sine-Fono No. 3, 1 Dec. 1907, p. 11.
15 Kine-Zhurnal, No. 10, 8 June 1910, p. 17.
16 Kine-Zhurnal No. 20, 23 Oct. 1910, p. 24.
17 Kine-Zhurnal No. 22, 23 Nov. 1910, p. 12.
17 "Dom Kino"
18Veresek, Anastasia. «Gde v Vitebske nablyudayut 11 kinoteatrov i chem oni byli osobenny» [«Где в Витебске находились 11 кинотеатров и чем они были особенны»: Where were 11 Cinemas in Vitebsk and why they were special] Vitebskiy kur'yer [Витебский курьер: Vitebsk Courier] 22 June 2020. https://dzen.ru/a/XvC3CjPGuUfgQWVG Accessed March 8, 2025.
19 Sine-Fono No. 14, 15 Apr. 1910, p. 20.