Ailing theatre buildings Bonn Opera is not getting a new building

Bonn · The city administration tends to repair rather than build new municipal theatre buildings. The head of the department of culture strictly rejects cuts in the culture budget.

 The opera house on the Rhine is in great need of renovation. The facade on Rheingasse recently had to be secured with a net because pieces of concrete fell down.

The opera house on the Rhine is in great need of renovation. The facade on Rheingasse recently had to be secured with a net because pieces of concrete fell down.

Foto: Benjamin Westhoff

The city administration tends to repair rather than build new municipal theatre buildings. This was declared by Birgit Schneider-Bönninger, head of the sports and culture department, in response to a GA inquiry on Thursday. "We are thinking in this direction," said the alderman, who has been in office for a year. "We are now sitting down together and will make proposals as administration for the opera, chamber plays and the theatre workshops in Beuel." The department head left uncommented whether these will be on the table before the elections in September.

Change of course in the town council

That sounds like a change of course in the townhall: So far, two variants were under discussion, which the Actori specialist office had examined. One is the renovation of the three locations for a total of around 130 million euros, whereby, according to Actori, the costs for an interim wooden venue have already been taken into account. For demolition and new construction of the opera house at the previous location plus restoration of the buildings in Godesberg and Beuel, the experts calculated together with the interim venue about 161 million (as of 2018).

The public participation procedure announced by the city is still on hold today. Lord Mayor Ashok Sridharan first wanted to review the lessons learned from the renovation of the Beethovenhalle. "We will propose repair packages," emphasized department head Schneider-Bönninger on Thursday. "This means that not everything will happen at once."

Schneider-Bönninger rejects budget cuts

She had also announced the restoration of the "ailing theatre buildings" at the Ash Wednesday of the Kulturkreis Bonn in the opera. In front of enthusiastic guests from cultural institutions and associations, she also spoke out against any cuts in the city's cultural budget, which is well over 60 million euros. She said that in the budget negotiations that will soon begin, she would fight to ensure that the subsidies remained stable in order to guarantee the quality of the offerings.

In the second half of the year, Schneider-Bönninger wants to start a citizen's dialogue on the future of the city museum, which is living a shadowy existence on Franziskanerstrasse. "We have to think differently about museums", said the department head in the GA interview. She wanted to "bring the memory of the city's history into the present" and "focus on people". For example, she plans to take the contemporary witness mobile of the Haus der Geschichte to the districts and document personal stories of Bonn residents. The "huge dialogue process" is to be completed in 2022. This will also involve a new location for the museum. Original text: Andreas Baumann Translation: Mareike Graepel

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