Vienna Heritage: Wagner Opera Venue Revealed

Creativity in many cases leads to what theatrical performances, concerts or, in this case, an opera, have places to act that go beyond the usual theaters or specific rooms created for the occasion, and the favorable climate in summer invites you to think of peculiar and fresh scenarios to take the outdoor culture.

This is what they have thought of Sankt Margarethen in Burgenlanda town south of Singleon the border with Hungary, and where since July 9 they will have a common representation of one of the best known operas of Richard Wagner, The wandering Dutch.

This is the city’s cake, a place where in summer cultural events are usual and that offers a unique space where nature and art fuse, a few kilometers from the Lake Neusiedlwhich serves as a natural border with Hungary.

The Sankt Margarethen Im Burgenland quarry: a historical place as a cultural scenario

Sankt Margarethen Im Burgenland’s quarry is a historical site, UNESCO World Heritagewhich works since the Roman era and that served as a source of the materials with which a large part of the emblematic buildings of Vienna have been built, as is the case of the Cathedral of San Esteban.

“It is a unique place,” says the artistic director Daniel Serafin of the representation of the opera of The wandering Dutch of Wagnerwhose decorations are made to resist wind and rain, while taking advantage of the natural lighting of the sun and night, being a work connected to nature.

In fact, the quarry itself has been located as part of the decorations, in a staging that has required two years, for a scenario that has six kilometers of rigging and boards, 6,500 square meters of wooden panels, 600 cubic meters of polystyrene, 42 tons of steel and approximately half a million screws.

Thus, the representation surface is 950 square meters, some objects reaching 22 meters high integrated in the rocks of the Sankt Margarethen Im Burgenland quarry, and on which up to 65 artists reach at the same time.

In fact, opera workers and artists The wandering Dutch They must be prepared for heat or night when they are outdoors and take advantage of the different elements of nature, in a representation that will last until August 23 in this Austrian town near Vienna.