Theater des Westens

A castle-like building from 1896 in the heart of City West

The Theater des Westens is located on Kantstraße in Charlottenburg, a few steps from Zoologischer Garten station and Kurfürstendamm; a Thalia statue stands at the entrance, and there is a dedicated bus stop directly in front of the building. The foundation stone was laid on September 4, 1895, and it opened on October 1, 1896. The architect was Bernhard Sehring, who gave the building a facade with Renaissance, Empire, and Art Nouveau elements, including bay windows, gables, towers, and half-timbering, which give it a castle-like appearance. The main facade shows parallels to the Opéra Garnier in Paris, while Sehring deliberately shaped the stage tower like a medieval keep. On the roof stands a Perseus group by Johannes Pfuhl, on the gable a messenger of victory by Max Kruse, and at the main entrance a figure group by Fritz Heinemann. The facade measures approximately 40.6 meters in length and 22 meters in height. The house alternately served as an opera house, operetta theater, and municipal opera; in 1912, a fire damaged the building, and in 1944, an air raid hit it. Since 2002, it has been leased to a private operator, while the building itself remains state-owned.

Coffered ceiling with 800 rosettes and the home of My Fair Lady

Inside the Theater des Westens, behind the Imperial Staircase, an auditorium in red velvet opens up, featuring chandeliers and approximately 1,600 seats across the stalls, upper stalls, and two tiers. The most striking detail is the coffered ceiling above the stalls: 800 blossom-shaped rosettes, each fitted with light bulbs, interspersed with coat-of-arms motifs. In the foyer of the first tier, another 1,200 light bulb rosettes are added, and the total floor area is 1,673 square meters. The stage is 20 meters wide and 16.75 meters deep; with the forestage and back stage, it expands to 24.5 meters. The proscenium opening measures 11.5 meters in width and 8.2 meters in height, above which 24 electric hoists and 33 manual counterweights operate. The house made theatre history on October 1, 1961, when the German-language premiere of My Fair Lady was performed here under Hans Wölffer; it ran for two years and established the musical genre in Germany. In 1985, the great success La Cage aux Folles followed, and in 2003, after a renovation costing around ten million Euros, it reopened with Les Misérables. Today, several productions run concurrently in the repertoire, including a Berlin musical by Peter Plate and Ulf Leo Sommer, as well as a family musical.