Palais Branconi

Palais Branconi, located at Zerbster Straße 36, was a neoclassical city palace in the old town of Dessau, which was later used as a theater, variety show, and gastronomic establishment "Kristallpalast".

The property, situated within the oldest city wall directly adjacent to the east of the Zerbster Tor, originally housed the Holy Spirit Hospital, first mentioned in 1228. Prince Leopold III Friedrich Franz von Anhalt-Dessau relocated the princely privileged hospital in 1794/95 to the southern city expansion Franzstadt, which he planned and realized as the builder, where the poorhouse and workhouse were already located. He had the old hospital buildings demolished. According to plans by Friedrich Wilhelm von Erdmannsdorff, a neoclassical city palace was completed in 1797 as a two-story plastered building with a central portal and a two-winged grand staircase. Prince Franz left the building to his travel marshal Anton von Branconi. After several changes of ownership, the palace came into the possession of the innkeeper Friedrich Bolling, who, after extensive renovations, opened the "...most distinguished establishment of the residence..." with variety and theater operations on February 20, 1904, but had to declare bankruptcy as early as 1906. Under changing ownership and lease conditions, the premises served various festivities and events in addition to theater and variety shows.

After the destruction of the court theater building in Kavalierstraße by a major fire on January 25/26, 1922, the ensemble found temporary accommodation for the remainder of the current season and until the opening of the interim venue in the former ducal riding arena in February 1923 in Branconi/"Kristallpalast" as well as in "Tivoli", thus being able to maintain operations.

Especially from 1930 onwards, the establishment was frequently the scene of political disputes and appearances by National Socialist politicians. As in the First World War, the building served as a makeshift hospital during the years of the Second World War and burned out during the bombing raid on March 7, 1945.

Since the new theater building opened in 1938 was also severely damaged by the war, the theater hall of Branconi/"Kristallpalast" was again used as the "Großes Haus" (Grand House) of what was now the Anhaltisches Landestheater from 1945–1949, after the damage had been hastily repaired on the initiative of the Soviet military city administration. Ludwig van Beethoven's "Fidelio" was performed as the first opera premiere in the house on December 25, 1945.

After the reopening of the theater, the consumer cooperative took over the operation of the never fully restored establishment as a versatile event venue in 1949.

After 1990, unresolved ownership issues and acute structural defects, among other things, led to its closure and to a ruin-like state of construction to this day.

After a diploma thesis on future uses of the Branconi area was already submitted at the Bauhaus University Weimar in 2006, a civic foundation has been in the process of being established since autumn 2008. The foundation pursues the goal of revitalizing the site as a cultural and congress center. The city council of Dessau-Roßlau decided in a public session on December 10, 2008, on a development plan for the Branconi/"Kristallpalast" area, stipulating its use as a congress and cultural center.