Isartor-Theater

The Isartortheater stood in Munich’s Isarvorstadt district, just west of the Isartor gate, on the eastern tip of today’s green space between Frauenstraße and Westenriederstraße. Designed by Emanuel Herigoyen, it opened in October 1812 with King Maximilian I and Crown Prince Ludwig in attendance. The building was a two-storey entrance block topped by a hipped roof, with a portico of four Tuscan columns supporting a pediment. Behind it rose a three-storey main structure under another hipped roof, giving the whole a solid classical shape. Inside, the auditorium seated twelve hundred spectators. The theatre quickly became known for its lively mix of plays and operas. Directors Carl Carl and Carl August de la Motte filled the house with popular entertainment, though their choices drew criticism. By 1825 the state subsidy was cut and the theatre closed, its company moving to Vienna’s Theater an der Wien. Later it became Munich’s municipal pawnshop from 1844 to 1931, then reopened as the Atlantik-Palast cinema in 1931. During the Second World War the building was gutted by fire and left as a ruin. Today only the outline of the foundations remains in the park, marked by low stone slabs. The site is quiet, bordered by the Frauenstraße pavement and the green lawns of the Isarvorstadt. A few mature linden trees shade the spot where the portico once stood. Visitors can stand on the former stage level and look east towards the Isartor gate, imagining the cheers that once greeted performances by singers such as Peter Joseph von Lindpaintner.