As of: March 1, 2024, 6:47 p.m
By: Andrea Beschorner
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The baroque ceiling in the Asamtheater has been completely restored.
Otherwise it still looks wild to the layman's eye.
The orchestra pit can be raised and converted into additional rows of chairs.
© Lehmann
Everyone who is looking forward to the opening of Asam has every reason to be.
In order to shorten the waiting time, the FT took a look behind the scenes at the construction site.
Freising
- When the ceiling of the Asamsaal crumbled at the end of 2014, it was clear that a renovation of the listed building could no longer be put off.
And yet it will take another three years until the final curtain falls and the mammoth renovation can finally begin in 2017.
Today, seven years later, the city of Freising is on the home stretch.
The facade shines like never before, dark corners and niches around Asam have disappeared, everything is bright, friendly, inviting.
In order to shorten the time of waiting for everyone who is looking forward to an opening, which has now had to be postponed from April to autumn, the FT has asked for a tour: of Freising's "most complex construction site", as head of the building construction department Robert Naujokat calls it.
When you look behind the scenes it immediately becomes clear: the people of Freising have reason to be happy.
Bright and inviting
The tour through the new Asam is currently still quite adventurous.
Mayor Tobias Eschenbacher, project manager Ulrich Setzwein and Robert Naujokat also ask you to be careful where you step.
A few steps through the Asam archway and the new world of Freisinger Asam opens up to you.
Where there used to be parking spaces is now a light-flooded courtyard.
The paving is completely laid, but protected with pressboard.
Pallets, scaffolding parts and building materials are stacked in the middle.
The facade is largely finished and outshines the construction site charm of the spacious area.
“By the time the first guests go to the theater here in April, everything will have disappeared,” says Naujokat.
Because even if the official opening has to wait until autumn, individual performances will take place on the large Asam stage in just a few weeks.
Familiar and yet new
Inside, you are immediately reminded of the motto proclaimed by Diocesan Museum Director Christoph Shorter for his house after it reopened: “As always, just different.” The familiar cross vault, the cloakroom in the familiar place – the spirit of the old and familiar still blows through the rooms, and yet everything is new.
Those responsible lead through the cross arches to the heart of the building: the open-air staircase.
It is completely planked.
“Everything that isn’t visible here today is already finished – a good sign,” says Naujokat.
Setzwein opens a small corner of the stair railing, which is wrapped in foam film, for the tour and reveals the high-quality oak bars for a moment.
The new heart of the Asam: the open-air staircase.
It is already completely finished under the pressboard.
In the future, it will take visitors to the city museum on the first floor and to the theater on the second floor.
© Lehmann
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There are countless craftsmen at work on the first floor.
The light ash floor in the city museum is currently being laid and the hallways are being whitewashed.
Cables hang from the ceiling everywhere.
The new dimensions become clear on a tour of the city museum.
Eschenbacher: “Specifically, it is now three times as big.” DinA4 printouts with different fonts hang on the walls.
Museum director Ulrike Götz is already busy making all the preparations for the opening in the fall.
Then, on the second floor, past the counter furniture for the theater foyer that has already been delivered: the Asamsaal.
The baroque ceiling with the fresco cycle by Hans Georg Asam has already been completely restored.
Otherwise, to a layman's eye, things look wild here.
The oak floor still needs to be laid.
In front of the new stage, a view of the technology of the orchestra pit is clear: it can also be raised and then either accommodates additional rows of chairs or expands the stage area towards the front.
On the platform under the balcony of the hall, Naujokat and Setzwein confess that the Asam construction site gives them as many sleepless nights as it does joy.
New highlight in downtown Freising: The space behind the Asam building in front of the open-air stage will be freely accessible.
Concerts and events will also take place here in the future.
© Lehmann
The renovation backlog
“There are not many monuments whose renovation requires so many different interests to be reconciled,” says the mayor: museum, theater, gastronomy.
According to Setzwein, don't forget: "We've had a renovation backlog here for 300 years." That this has now been resolved, that - as of today - around 64.5 million euros will have been spent in the end, that Freising is looking forward to a new restaurant, a You can look forward to a technically spectacular outdoor stage, that much is certain after visiting it.
And there are many more treats waiting in the new Asam.