Bad Hersfeld

Bad Hersfeld’s most distinctive performance space is the Stiftsruine, the surviving shell of its former abbey church. The Benedictine abbey was founded by Lullus in 769; construction of the last great church began in 1038 under Abbot Meginher. The monument is described by the Hessian palace and garden administration as the largest Romanesque church ruin north of the Alps.

Since 1951, the Bad Hersfelder Festspiele have brought theatrical life to this setting. The contrast between the historic masonry and the temporary world of performance gives the festival its particular identity. A local museum exhibition traces that history through photographs, posters, costumes and stage objects, also drawing attention to the work behind a production. The abbey and the festival thus offer two connected ways of reading the town: as a medieval religious centre and as a modern place of theatrical collaboration.