Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
annual Wagner Festival that 60,000 opera devotees make a pilgrimage to this neck of the
Wald
.
Bayreuth's glory days began in 1735 when Wilhelmine, sister of King Frederick the
Great of Prussia, was forced to marry stuffy Margrave Friedrich. Bored with the local
scene, the cultured Anglo-oriented Wilhelmine invited the finest artists, poets, composers
and architects in Europe to court. The period bequeathed some eye-catching buildings,
still on display for all to see.
Sights
Outside of the Wagner Festival (see box,
Click here
)
from late July to the end of August,
the streets of Bayreuth slip into a kind of provincial slumber, although the town's strong
musical traditions ensure there are good dramatic and orchestral performances all year.
OPERA HOUSE
Markgräfliches Opernhaus
( 759 6922; Opernstrasse 14; tours adult/concession €5.50/4.50; tours 9am-6pm
daily Apr-Sep, occasional weekends Oct-Mar)
Designed by Giuseppe Galli Bibiena, a
famous 18th-century architect from Bologna, Bayreuth's opera house is one of Europe's
most stunningly ornate baroque theatres. Germany's largest opera house until 1871, it has
a lavish inter ior smothered in carved, gilded and marbled wood. However, Richard Wag-
ner considered it too modest for his serious work and conducted here just once. The
45-minute sound-and-light multimedia show is in German only but, even if you don't
speak the local lingo, tours are still worth it just to ogle at the show-stopping auditorium.
Neues Schloss
( 759 6920; Ludwigstrasse 21; adult/concession €5.50/4.50; 9am-6pm daily Apr-
Sep, 10am-4pm Tue-Sun Oct-Mar)
The Neues Schloss, which opens into the vast
Hofgarten
(admission free; 24hr)
, lies a short distance to the south of the main shop-
ping street, Maxmilianstrasse. A riot of rococo style, the margrave's residence after 1753
features a vast collection of 18th-century porcelain made in Bayreuth. The annual VIP
opening of the Wagner Festival is held in the Cedar Room. Also worth a look is the
Spiegelscherbenkabinett (Broken Mirror Cabinet), which is lined with irregular shards of
broken mirror - supposedly Wilhelmine's response to the vanity of her era.
PALACE
Richard Wagner Museum - Haus Wahnfried
(
www.wagnermuseum.de
;
Richard-Wagner-Strasse 48)
In the early 1870s King Ludwig
II, Wagner's most devoted fan, gave the great composer the cash to build Haus Wahnfried,
MUSEUM
