Burgtheater Bautzen / Dźiwadło na hrodźe Budyšin
Ortenburg 1, 02625 Bautzen / Budyšin
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About the location
Location Burgtheater Bautzen / Dźiwadło na hrodźe Budyšin
Address Ortenburg 1, 02625 Bautzen / Budyšin
The Burgtheater is the small stage of the German-Sorbian Volkstheater in Bautzen/ Budyšin. This new building in the courtyard of historic Ortenburg Castle was constructed on the site of an old granary. Since opening in 2003, the Burgtheater provides a flexible performance space for puppet theater performances as well as experimental theater, literary readings, and musical events. In addition, audiences can enjoy a panoramic view of the thousand-year-old city and the surrounding area. But there’s more!
Behind the glass façade of the Burgtheater, the 15 sandstone sculptures of the so-called »Rietschel Pediment« can be seen – 16 meters long, almost 3 meters tall, and weighing more than 15 tons. In 1840, sculptor Ernst Rietschel created this depiction of Greek gods and heroes from Aeschylus’s »Oresteia« as an allegory of tragedy. The pediment originally graced the Dresden Hoftheater, designed by Gottfried Semper and constructed in 1841. After the theater burned in 1869, the sculptures were moved to Bautzen, where they eventually became part of the façade of the new Burgtheater.