Felsenreitschule

Hofstallgasse 1
5020 Salzburg

Tel. 0043662 80450

Fax 0043662 8045555

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The Felsenreitschule (Summer Riding School) in Salzburg was built at the site where the conglomerate for the construction of the Cathedral was cut from the rock during the first half of the 17th century. The Felsenreitschule was carved into the Mönchsberg cliff in 1693 under Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun after plans by the baroque architect, Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach.

Architectural history
The audience was seated in the 96 arcades, arranged in three tiers. Max Reinhardt first used the Felsenreitschule as a venue for the Salzburg Festival in 1926 by staging Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters."
In 1933 Clemens Holzmeister built the so-called "Faust City," one of the most impressive set designs of its time. Herbert von Karajan transformed the Felsenreitschule into an opera stage for a performance of Gluck's Orpheus and Euridice in 1948.
The theater was completely redesigned in 1969/70, again to plans by Clemens Holzmeister. The 40-meter stage was enlarged by adding a lower stage with a depth of 4 meters. The self-supporting tribunes for the audience were renovated together with the underlying scenery depot. A lightproof, extendable tarpaulin roof covered with a net to dampen the sound of the rain, was installed to protect the stage. The roof can be retracted for open-air performances.

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