Apollo Cinerama
The Apollo Cinerama is a cinema that was opened in 1928 on Stauffacherstrasse in Zurich with 2000 seats . In 1929 it was converted to sound films , in 1954 to Cinemascope , 1964 to Cinerama and in the 1970s to Sensurround . Until the Apollo closed in 1988, it was considered the largest cinema in Zurich. After it was sold in 1988, the Swiss Bank Corporation (now UBS ) took over the complex and converted the building into office space.
The beginning
The construction of the Apollo in 1928 was carried out by the later owners, the Scotoni family. The architect was Peter Giumini. Far away from the pomp and kitsch of the equipment of American cinema theaters, a separate cinema architecture with factual, urban and expressive elements developed in German-speaking Europe. The architectural model, the Titaniapalast in Berlin, was jokingly referred to by its employees as "Asylum for the homeless" due to its architecture.
Program and meaning
In the early years up to the beginning of the Second World War, film productions by Terra Film AG (which was also owned by the Scotoni family from 1930 to 1935) shaped the Apollo's program. These included propaganda films like Hermione and the Seven Upright (1935) and Comrades at Sea (1938). During the Second World War, things got quiet about the largest cinema in Zurich . It was not until the beginning of the 1960s when Anton Eric Scotoni took over the cinema that the Apollo experienced its heyday. Scotoni knew how to get the Zurich audience excited again for the cinema experience through big film premieres - at which stars like Sean Connery , Elizabeth Taylor or Audrey Hepburn were present (including breakfast at Tiffany's in 1961, Star Wars 1978, Never Say Never 1983).
The end
In 1985 it became apparent that the Apollo would soon be closed. After the owner and the city of Zurich could not agree on a renovation concept for the building, the Scotoni family sold the entire building complex to the Swiss Bank Corporation in 1988. In the same year the Apollo cinema was closed.
literature
- Hollywood in Zurich . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung of April 28, 1960
Web links
Coordinates: 47 ° 22 '26.7 " N , 8 ° 31' 41.1" E ; CH1903: six hundred eighty-two thousand two hundred and seventy-nine / 247599