The statement of the State Office for the Protection of Monuments was not lacking in clarity. The senior conservator responsible went on September 29, 2021 for a “site inspection” of the former Nazi area at the Congress Hall and came to a clear conclusion: “Since the present planning considerations” – a performance hall – “only an interim solution for for a limited period of time (renovation of the opera house) and the measure is almost completely reversible, the preservation of historical monuments could put aside their professional concerns, provided that the actual dismantling after the interim period is guaranteed.”
There were no further questions, actually. The city ostentatiously planned a temporary building – they know about the site, which is highly explosive in terms of monument preservation. And the specialist authority judges: It’s okay – but only because you’re going to demolish again anyway.
Now Markus Söder visited the area on Friday and his statement is at least as unequivocal. In essence, he said: Only unworldly people can assume that a multimillion-dollar cultural building will then be razed to the ground. Finely chiseled academic concerns? Were never Söder’s thing.
Is it a coincidence that the general conservator Mathias Pfeil, also on Friday, threw up the statement made by his subaltern employee – the head conservator – only four months ago? He “no longer bears the concerns expressed,” he tells the dpa. As a specialist authority, the State Office is directly assigned to Minister of Art Bernd Sibler. He, in turn, is a member of the Söder cabinet. Which says it all.
The performance hall will not be demolished again. Therefore, the city can and should now stop playing hide-and-seek. A building must be planned that will attract a great deal of international attention. There can be no planning on a small municipal official route – an architectural competition is needed soon.
Shouldn’t there really be an architect’s office in the world that is able to design an opera venue that, with reasonable effort, can be converted into a concert hall – which is so urgently needed in Nuremberg? Maybe the city should say goodbye to another story right away.