Helsingør Theatre [Aarhus]
Helsingør Theatre
Theatre building in Aarhus, Denmark, opened in 1817
No heritage stage machinery? contact Perspectiv: Marianne Gjørtz Hougaard, head entertainment and sales 1846 reconstruction & decoration by C.F. Christensen 1896 reconstruction 1957-1962 demounted & rebuilded in Aarhus
Helsingør Theatre, inaugurated in 1817, was originally built and run by the local dramatic society in Helsingør (Elsinore) north of Copenhagen, and was used as a banqueting hall as well as a theatre. It was unique, because it was financed by the residents of the town themselves, in contrast with the royal theatres and those built by the nobility in the 17th and 18th centuries. Thus it was a symbol of the bourgeois public sphere of the period, where the wealthier middle classes became more prominent as patrons of the arts. In its last years the theatre also served as a cinema, but as the times required more up-to-date facilities for showing films, the theatre was condemned to demolition. However, the building was saved, and in 1961 it was moved to The Old Town (Den Gamle By) in Aarhus, an open-air museum portraying life in the old Danish market towns. The theatre stands today as the oldest in Denmark that is still preserved in its original form, and is still used for numerous opera and theatre performances and concerts during the year.