Bayreuth The town supported him in this project and made a piece of land available to him, an undeveloped area outside the town between the railway station and Hohe Warte, the "" ("Green Hill"). At the same time Wagner acquired a property at "Hofgarten" to build his own house, "Wahnfried". On 22 May 1872 the cornerstone for the Festival Hall was laid and, on 13 August 1876, it was officially opened (see Bayreuth Festival). Planning and construction were in the hands of the Leipzig architect, Otto Brückwald, who had already made a name for himself in the building of theatres in
Bayreuth Festival the festival into an opportunity for directors to experiment with new methods for presenting the operas. The change came out of necessity, as it was impossible for Wolfgang to both administer and direct the festival. It also provided an opportunity for Bayreuth to renew itself with each production, rather than continue to present the same operas in the same way, year after year. Ingmar Bergman, who famously made a film version in Swedish of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte", turned down an invitation to direct the festival. The most sensational production in "Werkstatt Bayreuth" was the Centennial Ring Cycle under the direction