Schloßbergbühne casemates

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Schloßbergbühne
The Schloßbergbühne (2014)

The Schloßbergbühne Kasematten , also known as the Kasemattenbühne , is an open-air stage on the Graz Schloßberg . Located in the Inner City district of Graz , it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site City of Graz - Historic Center and Eggenberg Palace . The name is derived from the cellar vault, known as the casemate, of the former castle captain's house of the castle on Graz's Schloßberg , which forms the structural framework.

history

The castle on the Grazer Schloßberg, copper engraving by Matthäus Merian , published in 1679

In the 12th century was the keep the construction of the hill fort on Castle Hill started and completed over time with residential and commercial buildings. In 1577 the palace was demolished and in its place the house of the castle captain was built in 1594 with an extensive vaulted cellar, which was later called the casemate. After the defeat of the troops of the Austrian Empire against those of the Napoleonic Empire of France in the Battle of Wagram in 1809 and the subsequent Treaty of Schönbrunn , the castle was razed by French miners in the same year in accordance with the treaty provisions . Only the bell and clock tower of the castle remained intact, the other parts disappeared completely or, like the casemate of the castle captain's house, as ruins. The entire castle hill has been owned by the city of Graz since 1885.

Use as a stage

The old town of Graz, on the right on the Schloßberg the covered casemate stage (2011)

In 1927 the casemate was used as a stage for the Schloßberg Festival for the first time . Ten years later, in 1937, the conversion to a theater space was finally completed. This comprised a total of 42 rows of seats. On both sides of the first floor there were proscenium boxes that looked representative. The sketches for this were drawn up by Tassilo Hüller . After the renovation work was completed, Beethoven's Fidelio was shown at the opening . Initially, the new stage was used until the outbreak of the Second World War .

The casemate was first repaired after the Second World War in 1949. Graz students were able to remove the rubble from the bombs with the help of British occupation soldiers and their trucks. From August 6, 1949 , members of the Graz University Studio performed a total of six times on the new stage for an audience of around 800 people each time by Goethe's Urgötz . The actors, including Heinz Gerstinger , Gerald Szyszkowitz , Gertrude Kellner and Helmuth Mezler , embodied several different roles for this piece. British soldiers supported the performances as extras . The entire production was coordinated by Hellmuth Himmel .

In 1989 the mobile roof structure of the casemate was erected. Renovation work on the entire property was carried out in 1996, and an underground service facility was also built. There were other significant changes in 2009 with the rotation of the stage.

The current operator of the Schlossbergbühne Kasematten is Grazer Spielstätten GmbH, but everyone is free to rent the stage for their own events. The program is varied and includes concerts, cabarets, festivals, children's events and plays. Well-known events that have already used the stage include the Schlossbergball, the Styriarte , the Long Night of Choirs in Styrian Autumn and the Jazz Summer Graz .

  • The parts of the vault used as boxes

  • View from the stage

  • Schloßberg stage and auditorium

Web links

Commons : Kasemattenbühne Schloßberg  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Graz venues - The Schloßbergbühne casemates. Retrieved May 4, 2019 .
  2. ↑ UNESCO World Heritage Center: City of Graz - Historic Center and Schloss Eggenberg. Retrieved May 4, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b Bundesdenkmalamt (Hrsg.): Austrian art topography, the art monuments of the city of Graz, the secular buildings of the I. district old town . Volume LIII - City of Graz. Schroll & Co., Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7031-0697-2 , p. 553 .
  4. ↑ a b c Engele, Robert .: Back then in Graz: a city tells its stories . Styria, Vienna 2010, ISBN 978-3-222-13286-5 .
  5. ↑ Bundesdenkmalamt (Hrsg.): Austrian art topography, the art monuments of the city of Graz, the secular buildings of the I. district old town . Volume LIII - City of Graz. Schroll & Co., Vienna 1997, ISBN 3-7031-0697-2 , p. 544 .

Coordinates: 47 ° 4 ′ 34.8 "  N , 15 ° 26 ′ 14.5"  E