Friedrichstadt-Palast

The Friedrichstadt-Palast stands in Berlin’s Mitte district near Friedrichstraße. It is a large revue theatre, the biggest and most modern of its kind in Europe. The present building opened in 1984 after the old circus and theatre was demolished. Its concrete façade holds four sculpted reliefs by Emilia N. Bayer that recall the site’s past as a circus and variety stage. Inside, the main hall seats 1,895 people beneath a ceiling that once carried dangling teardrop pins. The stage floor covers 2,854 square metres, the largest in the world, with a 24-metre proscenium arch that is the widest in Europe. The building’s history began in 1867 as Berlin’s first market hall, designed by Friedrich Hitzig. It became a circus in 1873 under Albert Salamonsky, then passed to Ernst Renz who enlarged it to hold up to 8,000 seats. Max Reinhardt rebuilt it in the 1920s for grand productions like The Oresteia and Erik Charell’s revues. After war damage and closure in 1980, the ensemble moved to the new building in 1985. Visitors find a vast hall with modern lighting and effects technology. The stage can carry full orchestras, flying scenery and moving sections of floor. Outside, the reliefs on the south and north sides show acrobats, horses and theatre masks. The entrance hall keeps the old iron columns and stucco ceiling from the 1920s rebuild. From the street, the building’s scale and clean lines announce a place built for spectacle.