Markgrafentheater Erlangen

The Markgrafentheater stands in Erlangen, a town in Middle Franconia. It is the oldest still-active Baroque theatre in southern Germany. The unassuming façade hides a protected building that now serves as the main venue for Schauspiel Erlangen. The theatre was commissioned by Margrave Georg Wilhelm and opened in 1719. In 1744 its interior was redesigned by the Italian architect Giovanni Paolo Gaspari. The auditorium’s three curved tiers are supported by colonnades, and the prince’s box is topped by a rococo baldachin with carved wooden borders and gilded tassels. Visitors enter through a passage linking Wasserturmstraße to Theaterplatz. Inside, the 11-metre-wide stage and retractable orchestra pit for forty musicians face the horseshoe-shaped stalls. The walls show decorative painting rather than heavy sculpture, and the ceiling once bore figures of the Muses by Gottfried Pfannenmüller. Modern systems include a unique tracking system for sound and light.