With early snow dusting the ground, the scaffolding went up around Bayreuth's Festspielhaus yesterday. Although nobody's yet sure where the money for urgently-needed renovation will come from, the scaffold will at least help protect the facade from further wear (and passers-by from falling masonry).
With no agreement between the Festival's shareholders on financing, the Kurier wonders whether the work will be completed before the 2013 anniversary Festival - or if operagoers will be greeted with scaffolding.
Perhaps Festival management will follow the example of the Wagner museum. Although the ongoing refurbishment of Wahnfried is far from finished, the dust sheets will be temporarily whipped off during the Festival month to allow visitors in.
