Movie theater world mirror
The movie theater Weltspiegel in Cottbus is after the Burgtheater in Burg (bei Magdeburg) is the second oldest operating cinema commercial buildings in Germany and the oldest in Brandenburg and Berlin.
history
The first permanent cinema room in Cottbus was set up in 1907 in the former tenement house at Neumarkt 5. In 1908, the owner of the hotel "Weißes Roß" on Berliner Platz planned to build an independent cinema with 268 seats on the neighboring property . This project did not come to fruition. In October 1910, Carl Lindemann from Tegel presented plans to convert the courtyard-facing warehouse at 79 Kaiserstraße for cinema purposes. However, his application was rejected by the city council of Cottbus.
The Cottbus businessman Paul Schneider, the owner of the properties at Kaiserstraße 78/79, founded the "Photographische Gesellschaft Weltspiegel mbH" in 1907, from which the "Lichtspiel-Gesellschaft Weltspiegel mbH" emerged in early 1911. At the end of 1910, the Cottbus architect Paul Thiel designed the model for a cinema building on the property at Kaiserstraße 78 for this company. In May 1911 - Paul Thiel had already died in April - construction work began under the direction of the Cottbus architects Schmidt & Arnold. The construction work was carried out by the Cottbus master mason Moritz Hausten. It was not until September 25, 1911, when the new cinema building on the site of the former front garden fence was about to be completed, that the official building permit was issued by the city council.
The opening performance of the Weltspiegel film theater with 600 seats in the stalls and 180 in the stalls as well as rank and parquet boxes took place on Wednesday, October 4th, 1911.
Numerous changes have taken place on and in the building over the decades. Just a few years after the opening, a second staircase to the tier area had to be added on the west side due to new building regulations, which led to the widening of the facade on the south side. In the 1920s, the Weltspiegel successfully asserted itself against competing Cottbus cinema operators. The first sound film screening in Cottbus took place on May 29, 1929 in the »UT Weltspiegel«. In an advertisement dated December 27, 1929, the cinema declared itself to be the largest movie theater in Niederlausitz.
In 1949 the facade was repaired and simplified after minor war effects. Between 1952 and 1956 renovation and reconstruction work took place inside the building. The Weltspiegel is one of the first cinema buildings in Germany whose stages were converted to anamorphic widescreen display in 1956. Further changes and repair work were carried out in 1977 and 1990.
The Weltspiegel film theater is one of the few remaining first-purpose cinema buildings that were built between 1906 and 1911 on the territory of the German Empire in cities such as Hamburg , Stettin , Freiburg and Berlin . It is the second oldest purely purpose-built cinema in Germany.
architecture
The plastered facade of the film theater Weltspiegel, which follows the course of the property boundary in a convex arc, is of architectural historical importance. As a photo from 1930 shows, the plastered area on the ground floor was accentuated by horizontal grooves, a design principle that can be traced back to the Renaissance and that was also used in the construction of the Cottbus State Theater in 1907/08 . The two-axis central projecting protruding from the eaves is opened in the area of the entrance hall by two high coffered round arches. On the upper floor, it is subdivided by narrow, tall rectangular, grooved window fields. The vertical accentuation of the central risalite is done by three strips of pilasters, the shafts of which are accentuated by late baroque cartouche bands, which are accompanied by wavy bands. In the fields of the staggered eaves cornice, putti are placed on ram's head consoles, standing between ornamentally framed cartouches. The upper end of the central risalite is crowned by an attic with a relief world mirror .
Historical meaning
When the Cottbuser Weltspiegel was built, new standards were set in terms of floor plan design. In its functional arrangement, it connects the spatial sequence of the ticket hall, foyer and auditorium with rank. The coffered ceiling of the auditorium proves to be an optical attraction of the interior design, which has been preserved in its original shape and whose recessed fields are decorated with diamonds and light bulbs. However, their coloring has been changed several times over the decades. Originally it showed itself in an Umbraton, so that the audience came together in the mysterious dark cinema hall. Probably around 1921 the ceiling was painted gold bronze.
During the renovation work in 1952, the ceiling was set in a green pastel shade, which was color-coordinated with the dark green fabric covering the side walls that was attached at the time. In 1977 the ceiling was painted white.
present
After several changes of operator, Weltspiegel reopened the doors and the curtain in November 2006. The program mainly consisted of art house films as well as cabaret and music events. As a result, Weltspiegel occupies a niche between the modern multiplex and communal cinemas in the region. In order to preserve the Weltspiegel as an individual monument and cultural site, a forward-looking renovation was necessary. This resulted in the decision to completely build on the property from March 2010 and to expand the old building with a new building that enables multifunctional use. The preservation and restoration focused primarily on the facade, the entrance area, the eastern Art Nouveau staircase and the hall with the focus on getting as close as possible to the original state. In addition, dismantled elements such as B. rebuilt the gallery with the Weltspiegel lettering or put it back to its original state. The multifunctional design of the hall level with retractable pedestals to a horizontal real wood parquet surface offers universal room usage options. Equipped with modern 3D digital projection and satellite technology, movies, national and international concerts or events can be shown in real time in the Weltspiegel after the expansion phase.
On May 31, 2011, the historic house was reopened with a festive event. The director Wim Wenders was the guest of the evening, at the same time his film "Pina" premiered in 3D in the Cottbuser Weltspiegel. The cinema started on June 2, 2011. Two new cinema halls with 80 seats each, the roof terrace and the film bar on the ground floor were completed on October 4, 2011, on time for the 100th birthday.
In the course of insolvency proceedings, the main creditor, Sparkasse Spree-Neisse , bought the building for 1.2 million euros in February 2017 . In January 2019, Kerstin Adam and Wulf Sörgel took over the operation of the film theater.
Technical specifications
The movie theater offers a handicapped accessible hall, which is equipped with a DTS multi-channel sound system. The hall has 500 seats. The digital projector is of the type NEC NC2000C DLP. The screen has an area of 45 m² and a diagonal of 11 m.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Opening advertisement in the Burger Tageblatt from June 2, 1911
- ↑ a b Brandenburg's oldest cinema is foreclosed . Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung . February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 6, 2018.
- ↑ Foreclosure auction after the insolvency of the “Weltspiegel” - Sparkasse pays 1.2 million for the oldest cinema in Cottbus. In: rbb-online.de. rbb Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg, February 28, 2017, accessed on February 28, 2017 .
- ↑ Peggy Kompalla: The Weltspiegel film theater in Cottbus has new operators. In: lr-online.de. January 11, 2019, accessed February 5, 2019 .
Coordinates: 51 ° 45 ′ 21.9 " N , 14 ° 19 ′ 55.3" E