Lichtburg

Lichtburg (fortress of light or light castle) has been a popular name for cinemas in Germany. Those in Berlin, Essen and Düsseldorf have been particularly famous; the Lichtburg in Oberhausen is the site of the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, and Quernheim is the smallest municipality in Germany with a cinema, also called Lichtburg.

The Düsseldorf Lichtburg opened on 5 November 1910 as the "Lichtspiele Königsallee" (Königsallee Moving Pictures, for the name of the street). It was designed by Oskar Rosendahl, a local architect who the following year published an influential article in Der Kinomatograph in which he laid out guidelines for cinema design such as an inviting foyer with cloakrooms through which the public would be drawn rapidly into the auditorium, an equally good view from all seats, achieved by a raked floor and a screen raised at least 2.5 metres off the floor, and toilets within easy reach to minimise disturbances.

The cinema was renamed the Union in 1915, the Titania in 1928, the U.T. (Union Theater) Königsallee in 1931, and finally the Lichtburg, also in 1931. Throughout its years as a cinema, the façade retained a stone archway over the doorway and a group of small windows above. The semicircular canopy bore the name Lichtburg in large letters, changing position and script slightly over the years. The neon letters came to embody the cinema. Immediately after World War II, it was an AKC cinema for American and British occupying forces, with only limited access for locals. It originally had a balcony and a total of 1,000 seats, but in the 1970s was tripled into Lichtburg 1, Lichtburg 2, and Studio Lichtburg. These were renovated in the 1990s to seat 205, 176 and 112 respectively.

It closed on 29 December 2004 despite a petition with 15,000 signatures. On 4 February 2004, the façade had been awarded protected status as an architectural landmark by the City of Düsseldorf. A commemorative plaque was placed in the pavement in front of its former location. The Lichtburg Studio Theater, a cellar arthouse cinema opened in 2005, revived the name but was itself forced to close in 2009.

The Lichtburg in Essen was built as a result of the city general plan of 1924, which included the redevelopment of the Burgplatz in the city centre by Die Burgplatz-Bau AG, a consortium of city government and private investors, to include a large new cinema within an office building, in order to give the city centre "urban flair". The exterior was designed by municipal planner Ernst Bode in a stark New Objectivist style without surface adornment; the interior by the local company of Heydkamp und Curt Bucerius based on designs by the city architect, Kaminski. The building had a 20-metre dome, at the time the largest in a German theatre. It had 2,000 upholstered seats with an electrical system which sent a message to the cashier when the seat was occupied, and a 150,000 Reichsmark Wurlitzer organ, at the time the largest in any European cinema, with sound effects including traffic noise and thunder. The 30-person orchestra was drawn in part from the Cologne Philharmonic. The cinema opened on 18 October 1928: evening dress was requested from those attending the multi-part gala, which included a concert performance and a ballet by a Parisian troupe before the featured film, the Marquis d'Eon's Der Spion der Pompadour.

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