The Last Curtain

Now it’s fact – The Metropol Cinema/Theatre will soon be only a footnote in the history of Bonn. Despite a petition with around 46000 signatures the Bundesverwaltungsgericht (BVerwG) Leipzig has decided that the Metropol has no protection as a Listed Building because of renovations made to it.

The Metropol is/was Germany’s last Cinema built in Art Deco Style still standing and saw in it’s long history some of the greatest german Movie Stars not just on it’s screen but also as guests – Zara Leander and Claudia Cardinale amongst them. It became a listed building in 1984 after plans had been revealed to knock it down in favour of a shopping complex. All seemed well until the owners filed for insolvence and the only ones interested in buying the building were property developers for shops.

The Local people formed an initiative ‘Rettet Des Metropol’ and gathered some 46000 signatures. Goodwill was not enough though. What was needed, but not forthcoming, was interest in using the building for Cultural use.  In the end, despite lots of talking, no one would put their money down.

Last August the High Court in Münster judged that major repairs made after 1987 to the building were so far reaching that they constituted total renovation. However true to the original the repairs were, they are no longer the original walls so to speak – and you cannot, they decided, restrain people from knocking down copies of originals.  The renovators it seems were caught between Devil and deep blue sea:  Making the Cinema safe and usable for patrons involved extensive repairs – including the addition of a lift.  These repairs in effect destroyed the one thing that could later save the building – it’s historic authenticity.

Now the dust has again settled on the old wooden Metropol Stage (or copy thereof?) and Thalia are expected to turn the inside into a bookshop. If you don’t know what one of those looks like then walk round the corner to Bouvier – there is one there already. Or take a train to Neumarkt in Cologne and you can even find a genuine  Thalia there.

Don’t go looking for an Art Deco Cinema anywhere in Germany though – there isn’t one.