Cuvilliés Theatre

The court theatre in Munich is a jewel box in red, gold and ivory. Cuvilliés designed it in the 1750s, and it is regarded as one of the most beautiful Rococo theatres in the world. During the war the interior was taken down and stored, which is why it can be seen today.

Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria had a new opera house built at the Residenz after the older one had burned. François de Cuvilliés, who began as a court dwarf and had become court architect, designed the theatre, which was built in 1751–1753. Mozart’s opera Idomeneo had its premiere here in 1781. It was a court theatre, and the placing of the boxes reflected the court hierarchy.

The auditorium has four tiers of boxes in a horseshoe around the stalls. The boxes are decorated in red, gold and white with carved rocailles, garlands, musical instruments and masks. The Elector’s box lies opposite the stage and is the most richly decorated. Everything is built of wood, which was good for the acoustics but made the theatre a fire risk. The room is small and intimate, with space for about 500 spectators.

When Allied bombs threatened Munich in 1943 the carved interior was dismantled and moved to safety. The old theatre building was destroyed soon afterwards. After the war the interior was reinstalled in 1958, in a different part of the Residenz. The theatre was restored again and reopened in 2008. The Cuvilliés Theatre shows how the Rococo turned architecture into playful ornament, and it is still used for opera and drama.