This volume invites visitors to look more closely and discover the history and stories concealed behind the facade and their own initial impressions: to let their eyes roam from the flies to the foundations, and from the (hidden) orchestra pit to the dressing rooms. The present book has received vital support from the director and the team running the Bayreuther Festspiele and, above all, from Wolfgang Wagner. Since 1951, he has been directing the Festspiele continuously with an artistic and entrepreneurial determination unparalleled in theatre history. (Until 1966, he shared this task with
his brother Wieland.) Under Wolfgang Wagner’s direction, construction measures have been implemented to ensure that the building will delight future generations too. As a result, the Bayreuther Festspielhaus has now become a monument – metamorphosed into stone – to the landlord Wolfgang Wagner. It is to his life’s work that this book is dedicated.