The Theater Koblenz is a multi-arts theatre with its own ensembles for drama, music theatre, puppetry and ballet located in

Koblenz Koblenz (; Moselle Franconian language, Moselle Franconian: ''Kowelenz''), spelled Coblenz before 1926, is a German city on the banks of the Rhine and the Moselle, a multi-nation tributary. Koblenz was established as a Roman Empire, Roman mili ...

, Germany. It has about 190 permanent employees from 22 nations and offers 500 seats in a theatre building from the 18th century not far from the Electoral Palace. The manager until the end of the 2024/2025 season is Markus Dietze. Venues include the Theater am Deinhardplatz, rehearsal stages 2 and 4 as well as the

Festung Ehrenbreitstein Ehrenbreitstein Fortress (german: Festung Ehrenbreitstein, ) is a fortress in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the east bank of the Rhine where it is joined by the Moselle, overlooking the town of Koblenz. Occupying the position of a ...

for the summer performances. In addition, the theatre participated in the ''Koblenz Fortress Plays'' for several years. In the 2009/2010 season, it was renamed from ''Theater der Stadt Koblenz'' to its current name. Since 1970, the has stood on Deinhardplatz in front of the theatre.

History

The Koblenz Theatre was commissioned by the Elector and Archbishop of Trier,

Clemens Wenzeslaus von Sachsen Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony (German language, German: ''Clemens Wenzeslaus August Hubertus Franz Xaver von Sachsen'') (28 September 1739 – 27 July 1812) was a Saxon prince from the House of Wettin and the Archbishopric of Trier, Archbis ...

, and built in 1787 by the architect

Peter Joseph Krahe Peter Joseph Krahe (8 April 1758, in Mannheim – 7 October 1840, in Braunschweig) was a German architect. He was instrumental in converting the old city walls and fortifications of Braunschweig into a series of parks and other public spaces. L ...

in the then new Neustadt district. The construction was supervised by . The building was modelled on the Italian , which was widespread in the 17th century, but above all on the more modern French rank theatres. On 23 November 1787, the theatre, designed as a multi-purpose building, was opened with a performance of Mozart's ''

Die Entführung aus dem Serail ' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Die ...

'' under the direction of Johann Heinrich Böhm as ''Kurfürstliches Komödien- und Ballhaus''. After the end of the electoral and French periods, it passed into private ownership, with the owners changing several times and doing little to maintain the building or provide an ambitious programme. On 16 December 1851, the Koblenz opera singer

Henriette Sontag Henriette Sontag, born Gertrude Walpurgis Sontag, and, after her marriage, entitled Henriette, Countess Rossi (3 January 1806 – 17 June 1854), was a German operatic soprano of great international renown. She possessed a sweet-toned, lyrical voi ...

performed in the theatre. It was the first and only performance in her home town. In 1867, at the instigation of Lord Mayor , the theatre was bought at auction by the city of Koblenz. The city had the run-down building renovated by master builder in 1869, and the interior was rebuilt in the style of

historicism Historicism is an approach to explaining the existence of phenomena, especially social and cultural practices (including ideas and beliefs), by studying their history, that is, by studying the process by which they came about. The term is widely u ...

. In 1937 and 1952, further alterations were made to modernise the appearance of the building and bring it into line with current safety regulations. During the Second World War, the theatre was closed in August 1944, but since it was one of the few buildings in the city centre to remain largely intact during the , it was able to reopen on 1 June 1946. Allegedly, two caretakers had diverted the fire brigade from the to the theatre after an air raid in November 1944 with an invented ''order of the

Gauleiter A ''Gauleiter'' () was a regional leader of the Nazi Party (NSDAP) who served as the head of a ''Administrative divisions of Nazi Germany, Gau'' or ''Reichsgau''. ''Gauleiter'' was the third-highest Ranks and insignia of the Nazi Party, rank in ...

'', thus preventing its destruction by fire. Since the building offered one of the few rooms that had not been destroyed in the war and was large enough, the constituent meeting of the , which discussed the constitution of the newly founded state of

Rhineland-Palatinate Rhineland-Palatinate ( , ; german: link=no, Rheinland-Pfalz ; lb, Rheinland-Pfalz ; pfl, Rhoilond-Palz) is a western state of Germany. It covers and has about 4.05 million residents. It is the ninth largest and sixth most populous of the ...

, took place in it on 22 November 1946. Since the theatre had suffered considerable damage due to its age, no longer complied with the relevant safety regulations and the stage technology was completely outdated, it was comprehensively restored between 1984 and 1985 with the aim of coming as close as possible to its original state of 1787. In the process, the old dimensions of the foyer were restored and the original painting in the auditorium was reconstructed; the façade was also given back its original colour scheme. Since 2009, the Koblenz Theatre has organised the impuls!v youth theatre festival in cooperation with the and the In 2000, the theatre, together with the "Institute for German Studies of the

University of Koblenz-Landau The University of Koblenz and Landau (German ''Universität Koblenz-Landau'') is a public university located in Koblenz and Landau, Germany, founded in 1990. History and profile The University of Koblenz and Landau is one of the youngest univers ...

and the university's circle of friends, donated the .

Building

The Koblenz Theatre is the only surviving classical theatre building on the

Middle Rhine Between Bingen and Bonn, Germany, the river Rhine flows as the Middle Rhine (german: Mittelrhein) through the Rhine Gorge, a formation created by erosion, which happened at about the same rate as an uplift in the region, leaving the river at ...

and the earliest surviving example of a rank theatre in Germany (as opposed to the earlier ). The exterior of the theatre is characterised by a neo-classical façade with

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s. The rusticated ground floor has round-arched entrances. The main and

mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian language, Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft ...

floors above are connected by colossal pilasters. These are terminated by an

architrave In classical architecture, an architrave (; from it, architrave "chief beam", also called an epistyle; from Greek ἐπίστυλον ''epistylon'' "door frame") is the lintel or beam that rests on the capitals of columns. The term can ...

with triglyph frieze and a projecting cornice. Attached to this is an

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

with a raised central section bearing the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

inscription Musis Moribus Et Publicae Laetitiae Erectum MDCCLXXXVII'' (To the Muses, to Morality and for the Pleasure of the Public erected 1787). The

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ca ...

is flat and strongly recessed. The present monochrome version in yellow probably corresponds to the original state. Inside is a flat-roofed vestibule. The main entrances to the playing hall are behind a

doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

pillar A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression (physical), compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column i ...

position. The central auditorium, decorated in blue, grey and white, is surrounded by a three-storey, free-floating tier arrangement that encloses the hall in a horseshoe shape. This is aligned with the former electoral

box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

and decorated with illusionary painting dating back to

Elmar Albrecht Elmar Albrecht (14 May 1915 – 3 November 1997) was a German painter and scenic designer. Life Born in Munich, after an internship at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Albrecht began studying at the Königliche Kunstgewerbeschule München in the ...

1984/1985. This painting was created during the restoration according to the architect's preserved original plans; small surviving remnants indicated that it had probably also been executed in this form. The remains found of the original painting (but also of later room paintings) were preserved under the new painting where possible, in order to preserve them for later generations. The stage is flanked by boxes and a

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

pair of double columns. Above the stage is an architrave-like finial with the Latin inscription ''"Ridendo Corrigo Mores"'' (Through laughter I improve morals). The flat hall ceiling pretends to be a dome through illusionistic painting and perspective-distorted

coffers A coffer (or coffering) in architecture is a series of sunken panels in the shape of a square, rectangle, or octagon in a ceiling, soffit or vault. A series of these sunken panels was often used as decoration for a ceiling or a vault, also c ...

. There were no preserved findings for this painting, as the ceiling had once been re-plastered, nor do the architect's plans show the ceiling; during the restoration in the 1980s, it was therefore recreated in the style of other classicist buildings. A

chandelier A chandelier (; also known as girandole, candelabra lamp, or least commonly suspended lights) is a branched ornamental light fixture designed to be mounted on ceilings or walls. Chandeliers are often ornate, and normally use incandescent li ...

is mounted in the centre, which further enhances the perspective effect.

Monument protection

The Koblenz Theatre is a protected

cultural monument A national heritage site is a heritage site having a value that has been registered by a governmental agency as being of national importance to the cultural heritage or history of that country. Usually such sites are listed in a heritage regist ...

according to the (DSchG) and registered in the list of monuments of the state of

. It stands in Koblenz-Altstadt at .Verzeichnis Kulturdenkmäler Koblenz, p. 6
/ref> Since 2002, the Koblenz Theatre has been part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site Upper Middle Rhine Valley. Furthermore, it is a protected cultural property according to the

Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict The Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict is the first international treaty that focuses exclusively on the protection of cultural property in armed conflict. It was signed at The Hague, Nethe ...

and marked with the blue and white protection sign.

References

External links

*
Theater Koblenz
in: regionalgeschichte.net {{portal bar, Theatre, Germany Buildings and structures in Koblenz Theatres in Rhineland-Palatinate 1780s architecture

History

Building

Monument protection

References

Further reading

External links