When you enter the grounds of Hellerau Festival Theatre, even for the very first time, you are inevitably drawn in by the pull of this marvellous complex where a heady mixture of decay, metamorphosis and unbroken greatness creates an atmosphere ripe with history. An odd, hidden spot apparently cut off from anywhere, whose lonely, monumental presence brings to mind the cultural visions first put into practice and built in stone here at the start of the twentieth century. On the eve of the First World War, the Festival Hall and the guest houses leading up to it (which have not been retained in their original format) drew people from all over Europe like a magnet, housed them as artists, teachers and students, and provided them with a space and an opportunity for experimentation. However, none of this took place in monastic seclusion: the workshop (then widely known, and designed for the artistic and intellectual avant-garde as well as those attempting to introduce social reforms) is inextricably linked to the creation of Germany's first garden city: Hellerau Garden City, which brought together architecture, arts and crafts, rhythmics, music and stage scenery in an absolutely novel symbiosis.
by Cyntia Schwab
