Meiningen Theater Museum
The theater museum "Zauberwelt der Kulisse" in the southern Thuringian district town of Meiningen is a museum specializing in historical stage sets for the Meiningen court theater . It is integrated under the roof of the Meiningen museums and is run by the Meiningen-Eisenach Cultural Foundation . The museum building once served as a ducal riding arena .
The museum is a stop on the tourist route Europastraße Historical Theater (Germany route).
history
The first Meiningen theater museum was inaugurated on the occasion of the 100th birthday of Duke Georg II on April 3, 1926 by the well-known actor and artistic director Max Grube . This initially small show was housed in the Great House of the Meininger Theater. Among other things, stage designs, role photos, theater posters and some props, especially from the travel time of the " Meininger ", were shown. Due to a lack of space, the museum moved to Elisabethenburg Palace in 1938 . Storage during the Second World War, the museum reopened its doors in 1946. For the purpose of extensive redesign, the museum was closed in 1952 and reopened in 1955 in the upper gallery of the castle, which took up four rooms here. In 1981 the giant hall was added as an exhibition area for the stage decorations.
After the renovation of the former riding hall of the ducal house of Sachsen-Meiningen near the Residenzschloss, the new theater museum moved into it on May 21, 2000 and was given the nickname “The Magic World of Scenery”.
Riding arena and museum
The building was erected in 1797 as part of a royal stables complex, but was never completed according to the original plans of the architect Heinrich Christoph Jussow , as a new stables project was implemented south of the castle from 1854. The riding arena was used as such until the 1970s and was converted into a sports hall in 1978. At that time the riding arena was given a flatter roof and a modified half-timbered upper floor that still exists today. In 1990 a supermarket was established here for a short time, later it was used as an exhibition hall. In 1998/99, the conversion into a theater museum took place according to the plans that had been in place since the 1970s. The hall was given its historically original roof shape again. The building offers enough space for the presentation of complex stage sets and is now a listed building.
exhibition
The Meiningen Theater Museum mainly houses 275 historical stage sets from the heyday of the Meiningen court theater up to 1914. They were part of the theater reform carried out by Duke Georg II according to the Meiningen principles and thus part of the success story of the Meiningen theater troupe. In annually changing exhibitions, various well-preserved stage sets are presented in as original an arrangement as possible, corresponding to the stage of the Meininger Theater. This is supported by modern lighting, audio and demonstration technology. They create almost the same perfect, expressive and thus tangible illusion that caused a sensation in the theater world at the end of the 19th century. The stage sets were made according to designs by Georg II by the famous theater workshops Gotthold and Max Brückner in Coburg .
Previously exhibited sets:
- "Lager vor Pilsen" from Wallenstein's camp by Friedrich Schiller .
- “Hohle Gasse” from Wilhelm Tell von Schiller.
- "Burghof" from Hamlet by William Shakespeare .
- “Magic Forest” from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare from 1910, exhibited in 2002 and 2010.
- "Festive Schlossplatz" (tournament scene) from Käthchen von Heilbronn by Heinrich von Kleist from 1876, exhibited in 2011.
- “Shepherd area” from The Winter's Tale (Shakespeare) from 1878, exhibited in 2012.
- “Wagner Year Stage Collage”, exhibition 2013.
- “Court scene” from The Winter's Tale of 1878, issued in 2014.
- “Banquet hall” from Die Piccolomini by Friedrich Schiller, exhibited in 2015 and 2016.
- “Battle of Fehrbellin” from Kleist's Prince of Homburg , set from 1878, exhibited in 2017.
- "Hypostyle Hall" from A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare from 1910, exhibited in 2019/20.
In a second area of the theater museum, autographs , props , costumes, scenographic designs by Duke Georg II, role photos of famous actors from the Meiningen court theater as well as German and foreign theater posters from the Meiningen guest performance are shown.
Benefit events
Benefit events with well-known artists have been held since 2005 to preserve and restore the valuable stage sets . So far, Klaus-Maria Brandauer , Armin Mueller-Stahl , Monica Bleibtreu , Iris Berben , Corinna Harfouch and Yadegar Asisi (2020) have been won over. In front of the theater museum, a “Meininger Walk of Fame” reminds the artists.
literature
- Ingrid Annel, Ulf Annel: 111 museums in Thuringia that you have to see. Emons, Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-95451-510-3 , pp. 130-131.
- Alfred Erck et al. (Hrsg.): Lexicon for the history of the city Meiningen. Bielsteinverlag, Meiningen 2008, ISBN 978-3-9809504-4-2 .
Web links
- Official website of the Meiningen Theater Museum . In: MeiningerMuseen.de
- Meiningen Theater Museum . In: Museen.Thueringen.de
- Meiningen Theater Museum . In: Rhoentravel.de
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 14 " N , 10 ° 24 ′ 52" E