City Theater Hanau

The Hanau City Theater was a theater building from the 18th century, which was used with its own ensemble until it was seriously damaged in World War II on January 6, 1945, with music and spoken theater .

location

The baroque court theater was located north of the "Esplanade", today part of the Freiheitsplatz in Hanau , at that time still called Paradeplatz.

Reason for construction

The construction of the theater was part of the infrastructure program for the County of Hanau , which he had held as a secondary school of the Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel since 1760, by the Hereditary Prince Wilhelm , the later Landgrave and Elector Wilhelm IX./I . As part of this infrastructure program, numerous construction measures were carried out, such as Philippsruher Allee , Dettinger Strasse, Birkenhainer Strasse and Leipziger Strasse redesigned as avenues and staged as a representative approach to the residential city of Hanau. To the resulting products of this infrastructure program includes the health resort of Wilhelmsbad , the authorities House on Freedom Square or the column of honor at the Dettinger road.

Game operation

The theater was inaugurated on December 22nd, 1768 in the presence of King Christian VII of Denmark . In 1777 it was expanded structurally. Both construction phases were carried out by Franz Ludwig Cancrin . The theater was equipped with its own ensemble throughout and had been under the authority of the city since the 19th century.

destruction

Although the basement and the rising walls survived the air raids of World War II and the building was still provisionally used by shops that had set up in the basement after the war, it - like the damaged city palace - was demolished in 1954. The Hanau politician Heinrich Fischer is said to have boasted with the saying: "We have removed the traces of feudalism".

Famous actors

Well-known actors who took part in the Hanauer Ensemble were:

literature

in alphabetical order by authors / editors

Angelika Cipa u. a .: Hanau city guide . Frankfurt 1983, p. 13f.
A. Sanio et al. Fliedner: From Comedy House to City Theater . In: Hanau city and country. A home book for school and home . Hanau 1954, pp. 440-443.
Karl Schweizer: Stadttheater Hanau: History of a small town stage from 1768 to 1945. A contribution to the history of theater in Germany . Hanau 1995. ISBN 3-9801933-4-9
Karl Schweizer: Theater in Hanau - History of the Hanau Theater . Hanau 2003. ISBN 3-9806988-6-6
Karl Schweizer: Curtain up: memories in pictures and words of performances in the former City Theater Hanau; 1934–1944 . Hanau 1996.
Ernst Julius Zimmermann : Hanau city and country . 3. Edition. Hanau 1919, reprint 1978, ISBN 3-87627-243-2 .

Individual evidence

^ Gerhard Bott : "Modern building" in the city of Hanau 1918–1933. "Demolition crime" and reconstruction after 1945 . In: Hanauer Geschichtsverein (ed.): Gerhard Bott 90 . Cocon, Hanau 2017. ISBN 978-3-86314-361-9 , pp. 85-113 (106).

50.1355 8.9164Coordinates: 50 ° 8 ′ 7.8 ″ N , 8 ° 54 ′ 59 ″ E

[1] Gerhard Bott : "Modern building" in the city of Hanau 1918–1933. "Demolition crime" and reconstruction after 1945 . In: Hanauer Geschichtsverein (ed.): Gerhard Bott 90 . Cocon, Hanau 2017. ISBN 978-3-86314-361-9 , pp. 85-113 (106).