Bayreuth dialect: / ; ) is a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in northern
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb and the
FichtelgebirgeThe Fichtelgebirge is a mountain range in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. It extends from the valley of the Red Main River to the Czech border, with a few foothills extending into the Czech Republic. It is continued by the Ore Mountains in northeastern direction, and by the Bohemian Forest in...
. It is the capital of Upper Franconia and has a population of 73,048 citizens (2008).
The city is believed to have been founded by the Counts of
AndechsThe Benedictine abbey of Andechs is a place of pilgrimage on a hill east of the Ammersee in the Landkreis of Starnberg in Germany, in the municipality Andechs. Andechs Abbey is famed for its flamboyant Baroque church and its brewery...
on an unknown date in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
and was first mentioned in 1194. The city centre still possesses the typical structure of a Bavarian street market: the settlement is grouped around a road widening into a square; the Town Hall was located in the middle.
Bayreuth dialect: / ; ) is a
cityA city is a relatively large and permanent settlement, particularly a large urban settlement. Although there is no agreement on technical definitions distinguishing a city from a town within general English language meanings, many cities have a particular administrative, legal, or historical status...
in northern
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
, on the Red Main river in a valley between the Frankish Alb and the
FichtelgebirgeThe Fichtelgebirge is a mountain range in northeastern Bavaria, Germany. It extends from the valley of the Red Main River to the Czech border, with a few foothills extending into the Czech Republic. It is continued by the Ore Mountains in northeastern direction, and by the Bohemian Forest in...
. It is the capital of Upper Franconia and has a population of 73,048 citizens (2008).
History
The city is believed to have been founded by the Counts of
AndechsThe Benedictine abbey of Andechs is a place of pilgrimage on a hill east of the Ammersee in the Landkreis of Starnberg in Germany, in the municipality Andechs. Andechs Abbey is famed for its flamboyant Baroque church and its brewery...
on an unknown date in the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
and was first mentioned in 1194. The city centre still possesses the typical structure of a Bavarian street market: the settlement is grouped around a road widening into a square; the Town Hall was located in the middle. The church stood apart from it and on a small hill stood the castle. Some sixty years later the town (at that time a tiny village) became subordinate to the Hohenzollern state, and when this state was divided, Bayreuth belonged to the
county of KulmbachThe Principality of Bayreuth or Brandenburg-Bayreuth was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. Until 1604 it was known as the Principality of Kulmbach ) or Brandenburg-Kulmbach...
. The city suffered several plagues and wars until in 1430 it was destroyed in the course of the
Hussite WarsThe Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars involved the military actions against and amongst the followers of Jan Hus in Bohemia in the period 1420 to circa 1434. The Hussite Wars were arguably the first European war in which hand-held gunpowder weapons such as hand cannons made a decisive...
. In 1602 there was another plague, and fires damaged it in 1605 and 1621.
The turning point of the town's history was in 1603, when Margrave Christian of
KulmbachKulmbach is the capital of the district of Kulmbach in Bavaria in Germany. The City is famous for the Plassenburg Castle, which contains the largest pewter-figure museum of the world and its famous sausages, called "Bratwürste"....
(Brandenburg-Kulmbach) decided to move his residence to Bayreuth. The development of the new capital stagnated due to the
Thirty Years' WarThe Thirty Years' War was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. The war was fought primarily in Germany and at various points involved most of the countries of Europe...
, but afterwards many famous
baroqueBaroque is an artistic style prevalent from the late 16th century to the early 18th century. The popularity and success of the Baroque style was encouraged by the Roman Catholic Church, which had decided at the time of the Council of Trent that the arts should communicate religious themes in...
buildings were added to the town. Christian died in 1655. His grandson Christian Ernst, who ruled from 1661 until 1712, was an educated and well-travelled man, whose tutor had been the statesman
Joachim Friedrich von BlumenthalJoachim Friedrich von Blumenthal was a German nobleman, diplomat and the founder of the early Brandenburg-Prussian Army. He was an Imperial War Commissar, as well as both Brandenburg and the Holy Roman Empire's representative at the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, where he negotiated Brandenburg's...
. He had built the fountain of the margraves and an equestral monument, placed at first in the courtyard of the Old Castle and now in the middle of the square in front of the New Castle. In 1701 the town of St. Georgen was founded, later absorbed into Bayreuth in 1811.
Bayreuth's Golden Age was that during the reign of Margravine
WilhelmineFriederike Sophie Wilhelmine, Princess of Prussia and Margravine of Bayreuth was a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and his queen consort Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. In 1731, she married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth...
, the favourite sister of King
Frederick II of PrussiaFrederick II was a King of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty. In his role as a prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire, he was Frederick IV of Brandenburg. He was in personal union the sovereign prince of the Principality of Neuchâtel...
. Several parks and castles were built which constitute much of Bayreuth's present appearance, together with the Opera of the Margraves, the most beautiful extant baroque theatre in Europe.
In 1769 the last margrave of the
Principality of BayreuthThe Principality of Bayreuth or Brandenburg-Bayreuth was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Bayreuth. Until 1604 it was known as the Principality of Kulmbach ) or Brandenburg-Kulmbach...
died without an heir, and the state was annexed by the neighbouring
Principality of AnsbachThe Principality of Ansbach or Brandenburg-Ansbach was a reichsfrei principality in the Holy Roman Empire centered on the Bavarian city of Ansbach...
. Bayreuth was no longer a state capital. Soon after it became
PrussianThe Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918, until the defeat of Germany in World War I, was the leading state of the German Empire, comprising almost two-thirds of the area of the empire...
(1792),
FrenchThe French Empire
, also known as the Greater French Empire or First French Empire, but more commonly known as the Napoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I in France...
(1806) and finally
BavariaBavaria , with an area of and almost 12.5 million inhabitants, is located in the southeast of Germany and is the largest state of Germany by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...
n (1810).
In 1804, the author Jean Paul Richter moved from
CoburgCoburg is a town located on the Itz River in Bavaria, Germany. Its 2005 population was 42,015. Long one of the Thuringian states of the Wettin line, it joined with Bavaria by popular vote in 1920...
to Bayreuth until his death in 1825.
In 1872 the composer
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
moved to Bayreuth. For the connection between Wagner and the town, see below.
Later Bayreuth became a scene of the
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
ideology. Nazi leaders often visited the Wagner festival and tried to turn Bayreuth into a Nazi model town. It was one of several cities in which town planning was administered directly from Berlin, due to Hitler's special interest in the town and in the festival. Hitler loved the music of Richard Wagner, and he became a close friend to
Winifred WagnerWinifred Wagner was an English-born Welsh woman married to Siegfried Wagner, Richard Wagner's son. She was the effective head of the Wagner family from 1930 to 1945, and a close friend of German dictator Adolf Hitler....
after she took over the
Bayreuth FestivalThe Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. Hitler frequently attended Wagner performances in the
Bayreuth FestspielhausThe Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
.
During
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, a subcamp of
Flossenburg concentration campFlossenbürg was a Nazi concentration camp built in May 1938 by the Schutzstaffel Economic-Administrative Main Office at Flossenbürg, in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, Germany, near the pre-war border with Czechoslovakia. Between 1938, when the camp was established, and liberation in April 1945,...
was located here. Bayreuth was heavily bombed at the end of World War II. One third of the city was destroyed and about a thousand people died.
After the war Bayreuth tried to part with its ill-fated past. The Wagner festival started again in 1951. In 1975 the
University of BayreuthThe University of Bayreuth was founded in 1975 as a campus university situated in Bayreuth, Germany.-Points of interest:* Ökologisch-Botanischer Garten der Universität Bayreuth, the university's botanical garden-External links:*...
was founded and largely contributed to the further growth of the town. In 1999 the world gliding championship took place at Bayreuth municipal airport.
Richard Wagner and Bayreuth
The city is best known for its association with the composer
Richard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
, who lived in Bayreuth from 1872 until his death in 1883. Wagner's villa, "
WahnfriedWahnfried may refer to:*Wahnfried, Richard Wagner's villa in Bayreuth*Richard Wahnfried , the long-time alias for German composer and musician Klaus Schulze...
", was constructed in Bayreuth under the sponsorship of King Ludwig II of Bavaria, and was converted after World War II into a Wagner Museum. To the north of Bayreuth is the
Bayreuth FestspielhausThe Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
, an
opera houseAn opera house is a theater building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building...
specially constructed for and exclusively devoted to the performance of Wagner's
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
s. The premieres of the final two works of Wagner's
Ring CycleDer Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas or 'music dramas' by the German composer Richard Wagner. The operas are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
("
SiegfriedSiegfried is a German language male given name, meaning "victory peace".Siegfried may also refer to:*Siegfried , an opera by Richard Wagner...
" and "
Götterdämmerungis the last in Richard Wagner's cycle of four operas entitled Der Ring des Nibelungen . It received its premiere at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus on 17 August 1876, as part of the first complete performance of the Ring....
"); of the cycle as a whole; and of
ParsifalParsifal is an opera in three acts by Richard Wagner. It is loosely based on Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival, the 13th century epic poem of the Arthurian knight Parzival and his quest for the Holy Grail....
took place here.
Every summer, Wagner's operas are performed at the Festspielhaus during the month-long Richard Wagner Festival, commonly known as the
Bayreuth FestivalThe Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...
. The Festival draws thousands of attendees each year, and has consistently been sold-out since its inauguration in 1876. Currently, waiting lists for tickets can stretch for up to 10 years or more.
Owing to Wagner's relationship with the then unknown philosopher,
Friedrich NietzscheFriedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche was a 19th- century German philosopher and classical philologist. He wrote critical texts on religion, morality, contemporary culture, philosophy and science, using a distinctive German-language style and displaying a fondness for metaphor, irony and...
, the first Bayreuth festival is situated as a key turning point in Nietzsche's philosophical development. Though at first an enthusiastic champion of Wagner's music, Nietzsche ultimately became hostile, viewing the festival and its revellers as symptom of cultural decay and bourgeois decadence—an event which lead him to turn his eye upon the esteemed values of morality held by society as a whole. Nietzsche's book "Human, All-Too-Human" developed out of this experience, a summary of which appears in his late book, "Ecce Homo", and where many of these concerns are expounded upon in detail.
Main sights
- New Castle, seat of the margraves from 1753 on
- Bayreuth Festspielhaus
The Bayreuth Festspielhaus is an opera house north of Bayreuth, Germany, dedicated principally to the performance of operas by the 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner...
- Richard Wagner Museum (Villa Wahnfried)
- Jean-Paul Museum
- Franz Liszt Museum
- Margrave's Opera House, one of the finest Baroque theatres of Europe, built in the 18th century
- The German Masonic Museum
- The Goldener Anker hotel
- Baroque parks:
- park of Eremitage and Old Castle, former seat of the margraves, outside the inner town
- castle and park of Fantaisie, in the vicinity of Bayreuth
- park Sanspareil, about 30 km west of Bayreuth
- Ökologisch-Botanischer Garten der Universität Bayreuth
The Ökologisch-Botanischer Garten der Universität Bayreuth is a botanical garden maintained by the University of Bayreuth. It is located at Universitätsstraße 30, Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany, and open daily except Saturday....
, the university's botanical gardenBotanical gardens grow a wide variety of plants primarily to categorize and document for scientific purposes. Botanists and horticulturalists tend the flora and maintain the garden's library and herbarium of dried and documented plant material. Botanical gardens may also serve to entertain and...
City partnerships
AnnecyAnnecy is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Rhône-Alpes region in south-eastern France.It lies on northern tip of Lake Annecy , 35 kilometres south of Geneva....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
RudolstadtRudolstadt is a town in the German Bundesland of Thuringia, close to the Thuringian Forest to the southwest, and to Jena and Weimar to the north....
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
La SpeziaLa Spezia is a city in the Liguria region of northern Italy, at the head of La Spezia Gulf, and capital city of the province of La Spezia. It is one of the major Italian military and commercial harbours, located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea...
,
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
LexingtonLexington is an independent city within the confines of Rockbridge County in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The population was 6,867 at the 2000 census. Lexington is about 55 minutes east of the West Virginia border and is about 50 miles north of Roanoke, Virginia. It was first settled in 1777.It...
,
VirginiaThe Commonwealth of Virginia is a U.S. state on the Atlantic Coast of the Southern United States. Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and sometimes the "Mother of Presidents" because it is the birthplace of eight U.S. presidents. The geography and climate of the state are shaped by the Blue...
Famous people
- Princess Wilhelmine of Bayreuth
Friederike Sophie Wilhelmine, Princess of Prussia and Margravine of Bayreuth was a daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and his queen consort Sophia Dorothea of Hanover. In 1731, she married Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth...
(1709–1758), monarch
- Johann David Schoepf
Johann David Schoepf or Schöpf was a German botanist, zoologist, and physician.He was born in Bayreuth and travelled to New York in 1777 as the chief surgeon for the Ansbach regiment of Hessian troops fighting for King George III of the United Kingdom.During the war Schoepf was stationed in Rhode...
(1752–1800), naturalist
- Johann Christian Ritter
Johann Christian Ritter was a German bookbinder born in Bayreuth. He came to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa in 1784 with what is believed to be the first printing press. He is known to have printed official forms and handbills as well as the earliest surviving printed specimen in South...
(1755-), first printer in South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
- Jean Paul
Jean Paul , born Johann Paul Friedrich Richter, was a German Romantic writer, best known for his humorous novels and stories.-Life and work:...
(1763–1825), writer
- Max Stirner
Johann Kaspar Schmidt , better known as Max Stirner , was a German philosopher, who ranks as one of the literary fathers of nihilism, existentialism, post-modernism and anarchism, especially of individualist...
(1806–1856), philosopher
- Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director and essayist, primarily known for his operas...
(1813–1883), composer
- Oskar Panizza
Leopold Hermann Oskar Panizza was a German psychiatrist and avant-garde author, playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, publisher and literary journal editor...
(1853–1921), psychiatrist, dissident author
- Fritz Rasp
Fritz Heinrich Rasp was a German film actor who appeared in 104 films between 1916 and 1976. His most notable roles were J.J...
(1891–1976), actor
- Generalfeldmarschall Robert Ritter von Greim
Robert Ritter von Greim was a German Field Marshal, pilot, army officer, and the last commander of the German Air Force in World War II.-Early years:...
(1892–1945), soldier and aviator
- Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer is a professional male tennis player from Germany. He plays on both the ATP Tour and Challenger Tour. He has won five Challenger events which has helped him stay in the Top 50 on the rankings....
(1983), professional tennis player
- Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner is a professional German tennis player. He was born on March 24, 1984 in Bayreuth, Germany and is known for his incredible bursts of speed around the court. He is sponsored by Wilson. His career high rank was #35 which he achieved on September 14, 2009.-2007:He entered the 2007...
(1984), professional tennis player
Transport
Bayreuth is served by
Bindlacher Berg AirportBindlacher Berg Airport or Flughafen Bindlacher Berg , also known as Bayreuth Airport or Flughafen Bayreuth, is an airport in Bayreuth, Bavaria, Germany.- History :German Luftwaffe built this airport in 1936...
.
External links