Großes Festspielhaus

The Großes Festspielhaus, in its current form, was designed by architect Clemens Holzmeister in 1956 for the Salzburg Festival in

Austria. It was inaugurated on 26 July 1960 with a performance of Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Herbert von Karajan, who also worked with Holzmeister on aspects of the building's design. The Large Festival House includes office space and tunneling into the Mönchsberg as well as a 2,179-seat performance space adaptable for both scenic and non-scenic events and acoustically scalable down for piano and song recitals. The stage is one of the widest in the world, at 100 metres. The auditorium is square. Access from the street to the lobby is through five bronze doors, above which is inscribed a Latin motto by Thomas Michels: SACRA CAMENAE DOMUS / CONCITIS CARMINE PATET / QUO NOS ATTONITOS / NUMEN AD AURAS FERAT.