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The Gloria-Theater is a multi-purpose theatre and event space, originally a cinema-theatre, in the centre of
Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...
,
North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia or North-Rhine/Westphalia, commonly shortened to NRW, is a States of Germany, state () in Old states of Germany, Western Germany. With more than 18 million inhabitants, it is the List of German states by population, most ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It is located on Apostelnstraße north of the Neumarkt, near the Basilica of the Holy Apostles.


History

The Gloria opened on 30 November 1956 as a cinema-theatre with the Austrian film ''
Engagement at Wolfgangsee ''Engagement at Wolfgangsee'' (German: ''Verlobung am Wolfgangsee'') is a 1956 Austrian comedy film directed by Helmut Weiss and starring Ingrid Andree, Wolf Albach-Retty and Maria Andergast. The film was shot in Agfacolor at the Schönbrunn Stu ...
'', directed by
Helmut Weiss Helmut Weiss (January 25, 1907 – January 13, 1969) was a German actor, screenwriter, and film director. He was notable for directing ''Tell the Truth (film), Tell the Truth'', the first film produced after the Second World War in what was to bec ...
, and the play ''
Till Eulenspiegel Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of is preserved fragmentarily), but a background i ...
'' with
Gérard Philipe Gérard Philipe () (born Gérard Albert Philip, 4 December 1922 – 25 November 1959) was a prominent French actor who appeared in 32 films between 1944 and 1959. He came to prominence during the later period of the poetic realism movement o ...
. In the 1970s it showed
pornographic film Pornographic films (pornos), erotic films, adult films, blue films, sexually explicit films, or 18+ films, are films that represent Human sexual activity, sexually WIKT:explicit, explicit subject matter in order to sexual arousal, arouse, fasci ...
s, such as those featuring
Ingrid Steeger Ingrid Steeger (; 1 April 1947 – 22 December 2023) was a German actress and comedian. From 1966 to 2006 she appeared in around 100 films and television productions. Life and career Steeger was born in Berlin on 1 April 1947. She worked as ...
.Die Geschichte des Gloria-Theaters
, Gloria-Theater.com , retrieved 2 March 2013.
In 1991 the building ceased to be a cinema and became an event location, specialising in hosting gay and lesbian parties.
Hella von Sinnen Hella Kemper (born 2 February 1959), known by her stage name Hella von Sinnen (lit. ''Hella out of her mind'', making pun of the aristocratic "von"), is a German entertainer and television presenter. She has been a regular on several TV shows on ...
celebrated a première there in 1995, Hermann Götting threw popular birthday parties, and
The Kelly Family The Kelly Family is a European-American music group consisting of a multi-generational family, usually nine siblings who were joined occasionally on stage in their earlier years by their parents. They play a repertoire of rock, pop, and folk mus ...
played an
AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...
benefit there. In 1994, the opening scene of the film ''
Der bewegte Mann ''Der bewegte Mann'' (international title: ''The Most Desired Man'', U.S. title: ''Maybe ... Maybe Not'') is a 1994 German comedy film directed by Sönke Wortmann and starring Til Schweiger, Rufus Beck, Joachim Król and Katja Riemann. The fi ...
'' with
Til Schweiger Tilman Valentin Schweiger (; born 19 December 1963) is a German actor and filmmaker. He became known in the 1990s for films such as '' Manta, Manta'', '' Der bewegte Mann'' and '' Knockin' on Heaven's Door''. He went on to star in international ...
was shot inside, and in 2001 Walter Bockmayer set ''Wer Liebe sucht'' there. After a complete renovation and the addition of up-to-date technical equipment, the Gloria has since 2000 been a multi-purpose theatre and event location. It contains a theatre space with a maximum capacity of 400 sitting or 950 standing, and an 80-seat café. The ambience evokes the 1950s, and the showcases with neon script at the entrance, the ticket kiosk, and the red velvet décor in the auditorium still recall its past as a cinema. The operator is Gastro-Event GmbH, which employs approximately 50 people there. The Gloria is used for concerts, parties, readings, theatrical and comedy performances including the Cologne Comedy Festival, and sometimes for TV shows, including ''
NightWash ''NightWash'' is a German television comedy show in which young artists and new stand-up comedy talents have the opportunity to perform in front of an audience with their program, typically lasting for 7–10 minutes. The series was created by, ...
''. It has been described as "at the nexus of Cologne's trendy gay and lesbian scene".''Let's Go Germany'', 14th ed., New York: St. Martin's, 2009,
p. 289


References


External links


Gloria-Theater website
{{Authority control Theatres in Cologne Former cinemas