“Melbourne Athenaeum”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is one of the oldest public institutions in Victoria, Australia, founded in 1839. Its building in Collins St in the Melbourne City Centre consists of a main theatre hosting theatre, comedy and music performances, a small studio theatre, and a subscription library. The building was added to the National Trust's Register of Historic Buildings in 1981 and is listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.^[1] The theatre is part of Melbourne's East End Theatre District.

History

Early history

The first President was Captain William Lonsdale, the first Patron was the Superintendent of Port Philip, Charles La Trobe and the first books were donated by Vice-President Henry Fyshe Gisborne. Originally called the Melbourne Mechanics' Institute, it was renamed in 1846 to the Melbourne Mechanics' Institution and School of Arts.^[2]^[3]

The building at 188 Collins Street was completed in 1842. The Melbourne City Council met in the building until 1852 when the Melbourne Town Hall was built.

The Institution changed its name to the Melbourne Athenaeum in 1872.^[4]^[5] At that time, as now, a focal point was the library. In 1877, membership was 1,681 and in 1879 there were 30,000 visits to the library. In 1880 it was reported 'that the floor of the large hall was the only one in Melbourne expressly constructed for dancing'. The front of the building was rebuilt in 1885 and 1886.

Theatre and cinema

In October 1896, the first movie was shown in Australia in the Athenaeum Hall. The Hall became a regular venue for screening films and the premiere of The Story of the Kelly Gang by the Tait brothers, the world's first dramatic feature film, was at the Athenaeum in 1906.

The theatre in its present form, a proscenium arch theatre with 880 seats on three levels, was created in 1924. It was the first venue in Australia to screen talking pictures, presenting The Jazz Singer in February 1929. From the 1920s to the early 1970s, the theatre was mainly used as a cinema. The Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) leased the theatre from 1976 to 1985 when the lease was taken over by various entrepreneurs who formed AT Management in 1997.

The upstairs studio theatre ("Ath 2"), created from the former art gallery by the MTC, has been used as a theatre space and the venue for The Last Laugh Comedy Club after it moved from North Melbourne.

Art gallery

The Athenaeum housed a small museum in its early days and then an art gallery. The gallery hosted the first exhibition of Frederick McCubbin's The Pioneer in 1904.^[4] The gallery also showed paintings by Rupert Bunny, Hans Heysen, Albert Namatjira, Tom Roberts, John Rowell, Constance Stokes and Arthur Streeton, before closing in 1971.^[4]^[6] The gallery also hosted talks by the Melbourne Society of Women Painters, including one in 1935 at which Mary Cecil Allen spoke.^[7]

Subscription library

Membership of the Athenaeum's subscription library peaked at 7,579 in 1950, after the State Library of Victoria ceased lending of its books in 1939.^[8] Membership reduced over the subsequent decades to 1,600 by the mid-1980s,^[9] and 750 by the late 2000s.^[10]

Today

Today, the Athenaeum Theatre is used for theatre, comedy and music performances, including as a principal venue for the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne Opera. The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas presents discussions and talks at the theatre. The Hillsong Church also uses the theatre for its Sunday services.

The subscription library has a 30,000-strong collection and hosts regular events, talks, book clubs and a screen club.

See also

References

1. ^{{cite VHD|726||hr=0501|ho=587}}
2. ^{{Citation | author1=Clancy, Frances M | author2=Victoria. Department of Infrastructure | title=The libraries of the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria : report prepared for Department of Infrastructure | publication-date=2000 | publisher=Victoria – Department of Infrastructure | isbn=978-0-7311-0937-1 }}
3. ^{{Citation | author1=Baragwanath, Pam | title=If the walls could speak : a social history of the Mechanics' Institutes of Victoria | publication-date=2000 | publisher=Mechanics Institute Inc | isbn=978-1-876677-32-9 }}
4. ^¹²{{cite web|title=175 years of the Melbourne Athenaeum Library – where to from here? Paper presented at the Library History Forum, State Library of NSW, November 2014.|url=http://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/services/public_libraries/docs/ALHF2014_RoseBlustein.pdf|publisher=State Library of New South Wales|accessdate=12 January 2015}}
5. ^{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1734232 |title=MELBOURNE ATHENAEUM. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=27 January 1921 |accessdate=12 January 2015 |page=9 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
6. ^{{cite news|title=Portrait of a mystery|last=Summers|first=Anne|date=29 March 2014|work=The Canberra Times|pages=20}}
7. ^{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11775623 |title=Women Painters Entertain Miss Allen. |newspaper=The Argus |location=Melbourne |date=10 October 1935 |accessdate=11 March 2015 |page=15 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
8. ^{{cite news|last1=Brown|first1=Jenny|title=Original high church of culture and books|url=http://www.domain.com.au/news/original-high-church-of-culture-and-books-20141009-3hmhu/|accessdate=22 April 2016|work=Domain (The Age)|date=13 October 2014}}
9. ^{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article118108852 |title=LAUGHING ALL THE WAY BACK TO THE BACK |newspaper=The Canberra Times |volume=60, |issue=18,435 |location=Australian Capital Territory, Australia |date=23 March 1986 |accessdate=4 November 2017 |page=4 (GOOD WEEKEND) |via=National Library of Australia}}
10. ^{{Cite news|url=http://www.smh.com.au/national/a-star-is-forlorn-ageing-theatre-queen-cries-out-for-a-little-makeup-20080808-3sem.html|title=A star is forlorn: ageing theatre queen cries out for a little make-up|last=Webb|first=Carolyn|date=2008-08-09|work=The Sydney Morning Herald|access-date=2017-11-04|language=en-US}}