TODAY IN BERLIN: FLAMES AT THE OPERA

Krollscher Wintergarten aka Krolloper burns down

Kroll´scher Wintergarten in 1854 (steel engraving from “Berlin und Seine Schätze)

Kroll’scher Wintergarten or Krolloper (also known as Krolls Etablissement), which opened as an up-market entertainment venue in February 1844, was originally built on the western edge of army parade and drill grounds in the Tiergarten.

Joseph Kroll, owner of Kroll’scher Wintergarten in Breslau (today Polish “Wrocław”), had it designed by Ludwig Persius, famous early-nineteenth century Berlin and Potsdam architect and a pupil of Schinkel’s. The place Kroll was investing money in had to be impressive and pleasing to the eye (read: expensive). First and foremost, it had to please the Prussian king. It was, after all, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, delighted with the amusing events he attended in Breslau, who presented Kroll with a generous and well-located plot – for free but on several conditions.