Description

Drama Theater, Klaipėda

It is no wonder that a building, which today we may call the oldest public building constructed especially for theatre purposes, appeared in the economically advanced Prussia of that time. In 1854 Klaipėda was devastated by a large fire destroying a large part of the city. This misfortune did not spare the theatre, which was built in the beginning of the 19th century by local merchants. It took three years for a new building to be constructed in place of the old one. Although, the latter was quite modest – it acquired its strict neo-Classicistic forms only at the end of the century after it was taken over the local authorities. Keeping its exterior, it serves the purpose of the theatre to this day. The architecture of the theatre reflects a broader trend of the use of the Classicistic principles in the architecture of cultural buildings of the 19th century Germany.

The main façade of the building is almost symmetrical, combined with the clear Classicistic precision. The pilasters located at the second section of the central avant-corps are much more decorative, completed with Corinthian capitals. A balcony for various celebrations is set up in the central recessed niche, and above it, in the pediment, decorated with massive cornices, a relief composition with the city’s coat of arms is fitted. Balconies are on lateral sides above the protruding single-storey avant-corps. The second floor planes and the entrance niches are framed with double pilasters from both sides. The smaller lateral volumes are decorated modestly, the rustic sides of which replicate the solution seen in the smaller avant-corps. The exterior of the main façade hasn’t changed much, and less than a decade ago it even regained its primary colours, which have been hidden under the newer layers of plaster for many years. And yet, the reconstructions, which took place in the 20th century, resulted in the fact that the interiors were lost, and part of the old façades of the building are currently integrated into the internal area of the outbuilding.

Detail