Theater Trier, Opera house and theatre in Trier, Germany

Theater Trier is the municipal three-branch theatre of Trier, staging opera, drama and dance. Its Grosses Haus at Augustinerhof seats 622 people. The main stage is 20 m wide and 19 m deep including the front stage, surrounded by side and back stages with a sliding stage and a built-in revolving stage. A curved iron curtain separates stage and auditorium, and the orchestra pit holds up to 65 musicians on two mobile podiums.

Napoleon's decree of 28 August 1802 assigned Trier's former Capuchin monastery on Fahrstraße as a theatre, where the company played until 1944. The last performance there was Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier on 16 July 1944; an Allied air raid destroyed the building on 23 December 1944. After interim venues, a new theatre by architect Gerhard Graubner was built at Augustinerhof, opened on 27 September 1964 with Beethoven's Fidelio.

Theater Trier presents opera, musicals, dance, and drama through a resident company that performs throughout the season. The house draws audiences from across the region and sits at the center of the city's cultural life.

The theater sits in central Trier and is easy to reach on foot or by public transport from most parts of the city. Arriving a little early gives you time to look around the building and the surrounding streets before a performance.

The main stage is fitted with a sliding platform and a built-in revolving turntable, which allow scene changes to happen quickly and without interruption. This kind of setup is uncommon in city theaters of this size, making the stage machinery itself worth noting.