This is how the Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth, aka Wahnfried, celebrated the composer's 200th birthday: shrouded in plastic, with a digger where the lawn used to be.
Although architects' plans were drawn up as long ago as 2010, renovation works only started recently. Delays were caused by legal planning procedures and the lengthy process of extracting the required 16 million euros from the public purse.
The press were allowed in for a day to see how it's getting on.
Progress may look pretty impressive. But as anyone who's had building work done knows, if it takes five minutes to knock something down, it'll take five months to put it all back together again.
The plan is for Wahnfried itself to be gutted and modernised, with lifts and air-conditioning added. The Siegfried-Haus, a cottage in the grounds, will host exhibits showing Wagner's impact, and a new glass building will tell the story of the Bayreuth Festival.
Completion is scheduled for 2015, but the ground floor will open during the 2013 festival for an exhibition on Wagner's patron King Ludwig II.
photos: BR
The next two picture are projections showing what the finished museum will look like. The low glass building is new.
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