The great festival house
Imposing venue of the Salzburg Festival
The construction history
About the Great Festival Hall
Work on the Großes Festspielhaus began in 1956 with the removal of some 55,000 cubic meters of conglomerate from the Mönchsberg wall to make room for the enormous stage house. Clemens Holzmeister had already distinguished himself as the master builder of the Kleines Festspielhaus in the 1920s. For the building designed specifically as a festival hall, it was possible to retain the original façade of the Hofmarstall pretty much unchanged. The former stables were converted into a break room. Its actual purpose is reminded of floor mosaics with horses’ heads. With a total width of 100 meters, the Great Festival Hall is one of the largest in the world. It was opened on July 26, 1960 with Richard Strauss’ “Rosenkavalier” conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
The great festival house
Imposing venue of the Salzburg Festival
The Großes Festspielhaus in Hofstallgasse was built between 1956 and 1960 according to plans by architect Clemens Holzmeister and is one of the most impressive venues of the Salzburg Festival. In front of its gates, the high society of the Salzburg Festival meets onlooking visitors and an international crowd of photographers every year.
A house for art enthusiasts
Inside there are numerous works of art
Inside the Great Festival Hall there are numerous works of art, such as the sculptures “Theater” and “Music” by Wander Bertoni made of Carrara marble, four large crosses on the theme of “Dreams with the Wrong Solutions” by Robert Longo (blue “Pressure on the Sky”, Red “Prayers of Fire,” Gold “Lamentations in Public,” and Black “Songs of Surrender”), ceramic sculptures by Arno Lehmann, the “12-Tone Frieze” in homage to Anton von Webern by Rudolf Hoflehner, and murals by Wolfgang Hutter and Rudolf Plattner.
Before the big premieres, luxury limousine after luxury limousine lined Hofstallgasse with its "golden" pavement.
