Accessibility

HELLERAU is working on reducing barriers and thus creating further access for many people. Identifying barriers, naming them and removing them where possible is a long-term process. Please send your questions and suggestions by e-mail to barrierefrei@hellerau.org.

In the following you will find information about our offers for a visit to HELLERAU that is as barrier-free as possible.

General information in simple language

Severely disabled persons from 80 percent (GdB) and their accompanying person receive reduced admission. Please contact our visitor centre for this. In order to be able to plan the need for wheelchair places in good time, please book a ticket with the designation “Wheelchair”, which is available at all advance booking offices and on our website.

Our visitor centre will be happy to answer any questions you may have. You can reach us at + 49 351 2646246 or ticket@hellerau.org

Tram

It is possible to get on and off the tram using the ramp provided on the tram. Please make sure that you get on at the first door. Line 8 runs in regular service with low-floor trams.

To reach the Festspielhaus HELLERAU by tram, there are two exits:

Festspielhaus Hellerau stop

The ground at the “Festspielhaus Hellerau” stop is gravel, which can restrict mobility for wheelchair users. An approx. 6 cm high kerb and the busy main road have to be crossed. There are no traffic lights. From the stop “Festspielhaus Hellerau” it is about 330 metres to the Festspielhaus. The path is partly uneven and not easy to walk on due to the gravel surface.

Stop Heinrich-Tessenow-Weg

To get from the “Heinrich-Tessenow-Weg” stop to the Festspielhaus Hellerau, follow the pavement of the main street uphill in the direction of travel on the right side of the street. The walk from the bus stop to the Festspielhaus is 550 metres, which is longer than the walk from the bus stop “Festspielhaus Hellerau”, but easier to walk on foot.

Car park

There are sufficient parking spaces on the grounds of HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts. There is a barrier-free car park on the left side of the grounds in front of the visitor centre. The walk from this car park to the ramp into the Festspielhaus is approx. 40 metres. There is a bell by the car park which you can press as soon as you want assistance.

Another barrier-free car park is located in front of the last entrance to the west wing in the direction of the Festspielhaus.

The visitor centre is located in the building to the left of the Festspielhaus. There is a mobile ramp to ensure that access to our Visitor Centre is as barrier-free as possible. Our staff will be happy to provide this ramp for you. There is also a bell at the entrance which you can use to contact our staff.

The Festspielhaus is accessible via a concrete ramp (width 140 cm) at the left side entrance.

Click here for the site plan.

In the Festspielhaus

The entire ground floor is barrier-free. The Great Hall, Nancy Spero Hall, Dalcroze Hall, the Music Room, the East Side Stage and the LAGO bar + kitchen (doors all 210 cm wide) are easily accessible for wheelchair users. The first floor of the Festspielhaus can only be reached via the stairways and is therefore not barrier-free. The Studio and the Corner Salon East as well as the Studio and the Corner Salon West are located on the 1st floor.

Barrier-free WC

You will find a barrier-free WC (door width 101 cm) on the ground floor, Foyer West. The cubicles of the remaining toilets have a width of 60 cm.

Getting to know the rooms

To get an impression of our premises in advance, you can move around the grounds and through the rooms of the Festspielhaus on our website in our digital 360° view and get your bearings in advance.

HELLERAU outside 

HELLERAU Foyer 

HELLERAU Großer Saal 

HELLERAU Dalcroze-Saal 

HELLERAU Nancy-Spero-Saal  

In cooperation with Gravity Access Services Berlin, HELLERAU offers audio description and tactile tours – so-called Haptic Access Tours – at various events.  To get an overview of events with audio description, you can use our filter “Audiodescription” in our schedule.  

Audio description provides access to the visual elements – plot, costumes, settings, gestures, facial expressions, objects, and other visual communication elements – of a dance performance and performance.  Audio description is a live audio track spoken by a professional audio describer:in via a wireless headset system for audience:members with visual impairments.  

Gravity’s team of audio descriptors consists of professional dancers and actors trained by Jess Curtis to clearly and engagingly describe the significant visual details of a performance that would be inaccessible to audience members with visual impairments. 

Haptic Access Tours (20-30 minutes) are live pre-performance tours that allow audience members to experience the space, performers, costumes and objects, and key movement elements of a performance through touch and their own movement. 

Gravity website, Facebook, Instagram

Gravity Access Services Berlin: audio description and access management is supported by DIEHL+RITTER/TANZPAKT RECONNECT, funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media as part of the NEUSTART KULTUR initiative. Support program dance 

In order to increase orientation within the Festspielhaus and to reduce physical barriers, a tactile floor plan was developed which makes it possible for blind people and others to experience the paths and room layout in the foyer and side wings.

Based on these tactile stations, an acoustic guidance system is used, which was developed by Dr. Blüher (German Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired) and is now being used for the first time in a cultural institution. Via an app, directions are given to people, who in turn can trigger acoustic signals at over 30 Bluetooth boxes in the building, enabling blind people to move around the building independently.

More infos about visor App

If you have any questions about the accessibility of individual pieces in our programme, please do not hesitate to contact us. Please write to us at barrierefrei@hellerau.org with any questions that are important for your visit. The colleagues in charge will be happy to help you.

The permanent exhibition “HELLERAU – The Idea of the Gesamtkunstwerk” is for the most part located on the 1st floor of the Visitor Centre and can only be reached via the stairs and is therefore not barrier-free. 

The website “Werkbund – Discover Hellerau” is an inclusive, digital knowledge archive of the Deutscher Werkbund Sachsen e.V.. Use this website to discover the history of the garden city of Hellerau from its early beginnings to the present day.