Staatsatelier Thorak, Architectural heritage monument in Vaterstetten, Germany.
The Staatsatelier Thorak is a state-owned building in Baldham, part of Vaterstetten, Bavaria, constructed from 1938 to 1941 for sculptor Josef Thorak. Albert Speer planned it and Josef Schatz was the executing architect. The complex includes a large main hall and outbuildings; a side building housed horses used as models for Thorak's equestrian sculptures. A rail siding on the grounds served to transport sculptures.
The building was commissioned by the Nazi regime in 1941, which promoted Thorak as an official state artist and provided him with this studio. On May 5, 1945, it became the site of the surrender negotiations for Army Group G, one of the last major events of World War II in southern Germany.
The building is named after Josef Thorak, the sculptor for whom Albert Speer planned it in 1937; it was built from 1938 to 1941 by architect Josef Schatz and stayed in state ownership, hence the name Staatsatelier. In a side building, horses were kept as models for his equestrian sculptures. In March 1942 Joseph Goebbels and the Italian minister Alessandro Pavolini visited Thorak here.
The site is not open to visitors, as it currently serves as a storage facility for the Archaeological State Collection. The exterior of the building can be seen from the road, which gives a sense of its scale and architecture.
Between 1954 and 1962, the halls were used as a film studio where German cinema productions were shot. After that, until 1983, the Bavarian State Opera stored stage sets and props here, making the building a behind-the-scenes space for two very different art forms.
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