Ruhrfestspielhaus
The Ruhrfestspielhaus is an event building built between 1960 and 1965 in Recklinghausen and has been the main venue for the annual Ruhr Festival since it opened .
location
The Ruhrfestspielhaus is located on the Green Hill , a natural hill in the city garden. This is in turn in the west quarter , around one kilometer northwest of the old town. In the southern area, the Green Hill borders directly on Dorstener Straße , which is an important connection between the city center and the B 225 .
history
The venue of the municipal hall building was too small for the Ruhr Festival and did not meet the technical requirements and fire protection regulations. For example, as early as 1950, Hamburg's Governing Mayor Max Brauer , who accompanied the ensemble of the Thalia Theater, which was heated with coal from Recklinghausen, called for the construction of a modern purpose-built theater for Recklinghausen.
In 1953 the city council decided to build a festival hall on the hill of the city garden. In 1956 there was an architectural competition led by the President of the BDA Otto Bartning , from which the local Recklinghausen architecture firm of Felix Gantführer (1902-1984) and Fritz Hannes emerged as the winner. As early as 1938 Gantführer had planned a so-called Gauforum for Detmold together with Hermann Bartels , in which operas and plays were to be performed on the occasion of the newly established Richard Wagner Festival .
With financial help from the German Federation of Trade Unions , the federal government, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia , the Regional Association of Westphalia-Lippe and the Friends of the Ruhr Festival , which was founded in 1959 by the regular festival visitor Theodor Heuss , the construction project was financed.
On June 2, 1960, former Federal President Theodor Heuss broke ground, and on June 3, 1961, Federal President Heinrich Lübke laid the foundation stone for the “House of the Ruhr Festival”. On June 11, 1965, on the occasion of the XIX. Ruhrfestspiele the first performance will take place in the new Ruhrfestspielhaus.
From 1996 to 1998, the Ruhrfestspielhaus was redesigned into a congress and conference venue according to plans by the Auer Weber architects' office for almost 20 million euros. The renovation mainly includes a modern, large-area glazed porch. In 2001 the renovation was awarded the German Architecture Prize.
In front of the main entrance is the sculpture Great Reclining No. 5 by Henry Moore .
Web links
literature
- Matthias Kordes: The house of the Ruhr Festival in Recklinghausen. Idea and tradition, construction and design 1950–1965 . Recklinghausen: Self-published by the city of Recklinghausen, 2015, 42 p., With numerous. Fig. ( PDF; 3.5MB )
Individual evidence
- ^ Gerd Holtmann: The Ruhr Festival in Recklinghausen. In: Werner Burghardt (ed.): 750 year city of Recklinghausen. 1236-1986. Winkelmann, Recklinghausen 1986. pp. 295ff
- ^ Rudolf Hille: The King Ludwig colliery and the beginning of the Ruhr Festival. In: Working group König Ludwig, Christoph Thüer (Ed.): Our Zeche König Ludwig. Cradle of the Ruhr Festival and more ... , Regio, Werne 2005. S. 180ff
- ^ Reinold Hegemann, Hermann Böckmann, Christoph Thüer: Recklinghausen. The somewhat different Ruhr area city. Winkelmann, Recklinghausen 2001. pp. 56ff
Coordinates: 51 ° 37 '15.2 " N , 7 ° 11' 7.1" E