The theater in Russia began with Kostroma. Yes, this can be said with confidence. After all, its “father” was born here in 1729 — Fyodor Grigoryevich Volkov, and the first theater appeared in the city in 1808. Today, this is the Kostroma State Drama Theater named after A.N. Ostrovsky. Over its more than 200-year history, this institution has seen many renowned actors performing their roles in productions staged by the finest playwrights.
It was precisely on the basis of the Kostroma Theater that the Theatrical Costume Museum was created. Indeed, everyone knows actors, musicians, and authors, but for some reason costume designers are forgotten. Yet their role is no less important, because clothes do make the first impression!
The costume collection was assembled over nearly a hundred years — beginning in the 1920s. All clothing for the actors was tailored individually in the theater workshop, where excellent tailors and seamstresses still work today. The exhibition is constantly growing, because actors come and go, their roles change, but the skillfully made costumes remain.
The museum building on Simanovskogo Street is itself a notable architectural monument executed in the Baroque style. It is the so-called Volkov House, where that very Fyodor Volkov, a pioneer of Russian theatrical art, spent his childhood years.
