 The Babylon seen from the intersection of Hirtenstraße and Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße | |
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| Location | Rosa-Luxemburg-Straße 30 Berlin, Germany |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 52°31′33″N 13°24′41″E / 52.52583°N 13.41139°E |
| Owner | Neue Babylon Berlin GmbH |
| Type | Film theatre |
| Capacity | 520 |
| Construction | |
| Built | 1928–29 |
| Opened | 11 April 1929[1] |
| Renovated | 1999–2001 |
| Website | |
| www | |
The Kino Babylon is a cinema in the Mitte neighbourhood of Berlin and part of a listed building complex at Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz opposite the Volksbühne theatre. The building was erected 1928–29. It was designed by the architect Hans Poelzig in the Neue Sachlichkeit style. In 1948 the theatre was heavily renovated and served afterward as a speciality cinema for the German Democratic Republic (East Germany). After the auditorium was closed due to risk of collapse, it was restored between 1999 and 2001 in accordance with conservation guidelines. In 2002 the restoration was awarded the "German Award for Monument Protection".
Since 2001 the Babylon has primarily served as revival house as well as a venue for film festivals, musical and literary cultural events. It was a Berlin International Film Festival venue from 2008 to 2010. The cinema was originally host to a single screen with 1200 seats. This has since been split into three screens, with each now seating 500, 68 and 43 people respectively.
- ^ Michael Hanisch, Das Babylon. Geschichten um ein Berliner Kino mit Abschweifungen Archived 19 October 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Berlin, 2002