2_0_DiscoverGermany_Issue36_March2016:Scan Magazine 1
26/2/16
12:51
Page 32
City of the Month Germany
Bayreuth 2016 A city with many faces Bayreuth became internationally famous as the centre of Richard Wagner’s works. Every year in July and August, thousands of opera lovers from all corners of the world head to the Green Hill to watch and listen to Wagner’s oeuvre. But Bayreuth is also worth a visit as an attractive sightseeing destination. TEXT: NANE STEINHOFF
The Prussian Princess Wilhelmine – the favourite sister of Frederick the Great – established a unique ensemble of palaces, garden art and a wonderful margrave opera house in Bayreuth.The latter is said to be Europe’s most beautiful, preserved baroque theatre and was registered as a“unique example of baroque theatre and festival culture” on UNESCO’s list of World Heritage Sites. The New Palace is a true rococo masterpiece with margrave couple Friedrich and Wilhelmine’s historic rooms. Garden art of
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Main image: The Hermitage with the orangery and solar temple. © Bayerische Schlösserverwaltung Below: Richard Wagner Museum. © Bayreuth Marketing & Tourismus GmbH, Harbach
European importance can be found slightly outside of the city centre at the Bayreuth Hermitage, which impresses with its palaces, grottos and water features, as well as the unique, semi-circular orangery embellished with glass and quartz. Additionally, its central solar temple is crowned by Apollo, the god of the muses. Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth Richard Wagner’s former residential house ‘Wahnfried’ and the Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth re-opened in summer 2015 after extensive renovation and extension works. The museum in house ‘Wahnfried’ presents itself in an entirely new light with an extension building and three, thematically different permanent exhibitions. In house ‘Wahnfried’, Richard Wagner’s life, oeuvre and works are documented in an authentic