Bavaria's Minister of the Arts, Markus Blume, has postponed, but not buried, the plans for a new Munich concert hall in the Werksviertel. © C. Bloomimages for Cukrowicz/Nachbaur Architects
Bavaria's Minister of the Arts, Markus Blume, is sticking to the construction of the concert hall in Munich's Werksviertel. The CSU politician made this clear in the Bavarian state parliament. Blume presented a ranking of the most important Munich cultural projects in the Free State.
There are two options for Sir Simon Rattle. Either he extends his contract with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra a second time, i.e. beyond the initial term until 2028. Or he comes as honorary conductor to the opening of the Konzerthaus in the Werksviertel, where he shares the evening with his successor. Because before 2035, as became clear on Wednesday (10 May 2023) in the Culture Committee of the Bavarian State Parliament, the project will not be anything – if at all.
After all, the Minister of the Arts, Markus Blume, did not bury the concert hall. It is a clinging, combined with the shift into an uncertain future. The plans will be "brought to an end," said the CSU politician. But what exactly happens then, for example, whether there will be a slimmed-down solution, he left open. "It's just not all possible." At the moment, there are "dramatically different tasks that need to be tackled". And everyone with whom he spoke about it, such as Simon Rattle, property owner Werner Eckart or BR director Katja Wildermuth, understood this situation. (Read our overview of the 20-year debate about a new concert hall for Munich here.)
Bavaria's Minister of the Arts, Markus Blume, at the Museum "Man and Nature" in Munich. © Astrid Schmidhuber/Münchner Merkur
The priorities of the state government became clear in the list of renovation and construction projects. Blume calls this list a "cultural cascade". It is a succession of the various projects, according to Blume "cleverly coordinated", whereby some could also interlock. In doing so, Blume largely avoided mentioning costs. And he emphasized that there is "no renovation backlog" in Bavaria. His list is as follows:
New construction of the rehearsal and workshop centre for the State Theatre in Steinhausen: Blume mentioned the figure of 200 million euros in costs.
Renovation of the conservatory: A planning order is to be issued before the end of 2023. An interim is also being considered.
Renovation of the Residenztheater, including finding a replacement venue; this will probably be launched at the beginning of the next legislative period. Blume named the Marstall, the Prinzregententheater or the privately financed Bergson in Aubing as possible alternative venues; The latter is scheduled to open in 2024, according to the operators.
Renovation of the National Theatre: According to Blume, this will happen in the "30s". At the beginning of the next legislative period, he plans to conduct a feasibility study. Above all, the idea of the "cultural cascade" comes into play here: Only after the Residenztheater has moved out of the interim venues can they be used by the State Opera.
Renovation of Haus der Kunst: According to the minister, the planning will also start only after the new state parliament convenes.
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Blume defends Söder's "pause for thought" for the concert hall
The new construction projects are not explicitly part of the "cultural cascade". These plans, as the Ministry of Art emphasized to the "Münchner Merkur" after the meeting, run parallel to the other projects.
Concert hall in the Werksviertel: Blume defended the "pause for thought" announced by Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) and allowed himself a swipe at the city of Munich. After all, in the case of the stopped Gasteig planning, we saw "how necessary it is to approach things in a planned manner". As a next step, Blume suggested an "interim cultural use" for the area, saying that the Ferris wheel was not a permanent solution.
Natural History Museum/Biotopia: The weakness of the previous concept was to want to close the popular museum "Man and Nature" for eight years. As already indicated in the interview with the "Münchner Merkur", the museum will remain open until 2028; all plans would be revised, including those for the replacement building. In terms of area, "Mensch und Natur" is "one of the most successful museums in Munich" with 200,000 visitors.
Even though Blume did not give any figures in the committee, they have been circulating for a long time. For the University of Music, for example, 370 million euros are mentioned, for the pure construction costs for the Residenztheater 200 million, for the concert hall between 580 million according to the planning status in 2021 to the figure of one billion euros, which has not yet been documented by Prime Minister Söder and is therefore also classified as political.
According to Blume, no other state spends as much on culture as Bavaria, namely just under one billion euros per year. When it comes to projects, it must also be borne in mind that audience behaviour is changing radically. So it's not just about renovation or new construction, but also about content concepts.
Markus Blume called for a "new partnership between the state and local authorities"
Precisely because costs are rising more and more, Blume called for a "new partnership between the state and municipalities", Bavaria was quite willing to pay more, but cities and municipalities would also have to contribute accordingly. In addition, the Minister of the Arts called for a "new civic engagement", as happened after the Second World War with the reconstruction of the National Theatre. This is one of the reasons why they apparently want to approach the private operators of the Bergson art power plant in Aubing. In addition, as is well known, the parcel post hall has also been under discussion for some time as an interim venue for the State Opera, where a private investor is active. All this, according to Blume, is "not a cry for help, but an invitation."
Green Party spokeswoman Sanne Kurz criticized Blume's list as "too short-sighted." We have to act together with the municipalities. Apart from that, the dilapidated Hercules Hall does not appear on the project list. Wolfgang Heubisch (FDP) also complained about a lack of cooperation with the city of Munich. The permanent construction site of the Konzerthaus is "not a glorious page for the Free State", in this respect the Werksviertel offers "a pitiful sight". Volkmar Halbleib (SPD) disagreed with the minister, who did not want to see a renovation backlog: "The Hochschule für Musik is the best example of this". Blume replied that this project was "priority one" for him. Moreover, he has nothing against talks with the city of Munich in principle. But first, everyone has to do their own homework. The city has a responsibility for its cultural institutions, especially for the Gasteig. "We can't help with that."