Darmstadt Things to Do

In the grand building of the palace's Bell Tower is the Palace's own museum. Its collection shows the history of the rulers of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and includes potraits of the ruling families, furniture from the palace buildings, and paintings of the surrounding countryside.

Well, it used to be. First from 1819, when it was built, to 1871, when it burned down; and then once again from 1879 to 1944, when it was destroyed by bombs.

After the Second World War the ruins of the Old Theater remained standing for decades (like those of the Old Opera House in Frankfurt), because nobody could quite decide what to do with them.

Finally after half a century the Old Theater was rebuilt, but with a different function. It is now used for city offices, including the "House of History" a.k.a. the city archives.

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The castle in the center of Darmstadt was once the residence of the ruling Landgraves or Grand Dukes, and is now used mainly by the Technical University.

In the building there is also a Castle Museum showing how the Landgraves and Grand Dukes used to live.

Second and third photos: Cyclists at the Castle.

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Now this would have been an appropriate theatre for the city ! But sadly it is no longer in use as such. It was built in 1819 by Georg Moller, thus is better known under the common name Mollerbau (Moller building) and was home to Darmstadt’s theatre until WW II, with more than 2000 seats one of the biggest in the region. But as so many other buildings, it was destroyed during the night of heavy bombing. Today it houses the state’s archive and the foyer is said to be very much impressing, renovated in the style of 1870. However, it seems to be open to the public only on week days and not on the weekend. But I should go and visit one day, as it is said to have interesting old documents and maps.
On the huge space in front of the building you’ll see quite often tents of circusses and other shows.

One drawback though: since recently, a new building has been enthroned now opposite – the Darmstadtium Congress Centre, the city’s new congress centre. The very much modern shape and style is an ugly contrast to the beautiful old theatre. Oh, the name of this congress centre is a result of the artificial element Darmstadtium, which was discovered in GSI (Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung; Institute for Heavy Ion Research, located in the north of Darmstadt) and its name was accepted by IUPAC in 2003. (and yes, I am talking again in between the lines, hahaha).

Update August 2010:
website removed, since it was no longer valid (fourth time since I started writing my page back in 2005). And since I am sick and tired about Darmstadt's city officials' incompetence in context with websites 1) in English and 2) to keep at least a German version for more than a couple of month, I don't bother anymore to add a website.....

Location of Old Theatre on Google Maps.

© Ingrid D., tip date: December 2007 (March 2011: location on Google Maps added).

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As I am just too lazy or busy otherwise to write about these little gems dotted along Bergstraße south of Darmstadt, it might take ages until I can post something here.

But - help is on the way for those of you who will stumble upon my pages :-)

I saw with delight that Christine has just started to write about the nature area or nature park Naturpark Bergstrasse :-)

She has added already some beautiful locations like Auerbacher Schloss (castle of Auerbach) and the falconing there and Fürstenlager (uff, now how to translate this - duke's summer residence). And also about a very romantic and lovely old Roman bridge near Weinheim.
Keep your eyes open, as she is planning to write more about this area.

And don't forget to look at Weinheim and Ladenburg, two very lovely villages with old town centre just 1 hour south of Darmstadt.

If you happen to be in the area – Bergstraße is famous for excessive spring blossoming between Weinheim and Zwingenberg. It is really a feast for the eye: pink and white blossoms and all shades in between let Bergstraße explode in colour during springtime (see photo 5).

© Ingrid D., tip date: July 2007.

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The museum Kunstlerkolonie, has a very impossing "Omega Portal" very intricately designed in stunning gold colour. On each side of this strikingly rich doorway stand statues of Adam and Eve sculpted by Ludwig Habish. The building was designed on plans by Joseph M. Olbrish. We were too late to visit inside but I did enjoy admiring the great art work of Ernst Ludwig Haus, truely amazing to see such passion in art.
Museum open Tuesday - Sunday 10.00am - 5.00pm

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St. Maria Magdalena - Russische Kapelle = even the name conjures up distant images for me. Known locally as the Russian Chaple - this great beauty was built in 1897 - 1899 the architect Louis Benois must have been a very gifted person to create such a masterpiece. Tzar Nikolaus ll married Alexandra a German Princess from Darmstadt and wanted a Church built here so he would have some place familiar to worship when he visited Darmstadt. I could have stayed seated on the little bench forever, transfixed as if caught in a spell, absolutely charmed and enchanted by the magnificent detail. The Chaple for me seemed to jump staight out of a story book and will remain a fairy tale memory in my heart.

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The wedding tower is one of the symbols of Darmstadt. It was built in 1905 in memory of the marriage of the Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig to Princess Eleonore zu Solms-Hohensolms-Lich by Josef Maria Olbrich, one of the famous Art nouveau architects. It is possible to visit the indside. We were a bit lazy and took the lift upstairs to the viewing platform, downstairs we took the stairs to have a look in the different rooms in each etage.