The re-enactment festival
A shared dream led to the foundation of the association “die Förderer”, literally ‘the Promoters’.
Landshut citizens Georg Tippel and Joseph Linnbrunner wanted to realize in real life a scene from the Landshut Wedding depicted in a painting in the town hall’s Prunksaal, painted in the 1880s. Tippel was the owner of an inn in the old town of Landshut, Linnbrunner a city councilor and owner of the first Bavarian rusk factory. Both were elected to the board of the newly founded association in 1902.
Financed by a range of sponsors, 145 costumes for pageant participants were sewn for the first festival in 1903. The fanfare players and timpanists, for example, were dressed by brewery owner Carl Wittmann, architect Anton Weiß designed the bridal carriage based on historical models, and companies such as Vereinigte Kunstmühlen A. G. paid for the pageantry.
At that time, Landshut had a population of around 27,000 – and the shared vision of a historic city festival was held to have the power to unite citizens across all classes. Today, the membership of the non-profit association has grown from a few hundred to over 7,000. The association is also committed to preserving the historic cityscape and thus keeping the backdrop alive for future performances of the Landshut Wedding.
Michael Hellstern
Further reading
Franz Niehoff (Hrsg.), in eren liebt sie – Die Landshuter Hochzeit 1903-2005: Annäherungen an das Jahr 1475, Landshut 2005.
https://www.landshuter-hochzeit.de/files/pdf/auffuehrung2023/Schlag_nach_2023_Homepage.pdf
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