Marmorpalast Chemnitz
THE ABANDONED THEATER IN GERMANY
This is the ‘Marmorpalast’, an abandoned theater and community center in Chemnitz. The big ballroom of the Marmorpalast could house up to 3000 people. It also had a smaller ballroom for 400 people, two skittle-alleys, a concert garden, a garage, and a park with a children’s playground.
An Inn with a skittle-alley were situated on these grounds in 1869. In 1878 the Inn was closed on financial grounds. A new owner, Bruno Lorenz, reopened the site as ‘Deutschen Hofes’. In 1899 the building was expended and renamed ‘Marmorpalast’ because of the magnificent interior decorations. The locals however, named it ‘Gipskiste’ because of the use of stucco. In 1925 there was a big riot in the palast when Joseph Goebbels held his speech. Communists and socialist got in a fight and one person died. In 1927 Adolf Hitler held a speech in this building.
During the Second World War, the building was used as a military hospital. After the war the big ballroom was transformed to a music theater with 1076 places. The building was closed in 1996 due to the fire regulations. The building is now for sale, but is in a very bad state. The roof has partly collapsed, but you can still see its old glory. The paintings on the roof, the decorations on the wall, it is sad to see this building go down.
I visited the site in 2011. During heavy rain, the roof collapsed in June 2013. A week later, the building was demolished.
