Casino restored to more than just its former glory

Last Saturday, at 11 am on the dot, a fanfare sounded as the director of planning in the city, André Wicki, handed over firstly a ceremonial key made of bread and then a real one to representatives of the board of management of the Casino on completion of the restoration of the building after 14 months. What was particularly pleasing was that the work had been able to be completed on schedule and within its CHF 18.4 million budget.
 
In a speech to a gathering of around 100, Wicki recalled the excitement he enjoyed when, as a young boy, he used to go to the Casino on Wednesday afternoons to watch Punch and Judy shows, having first bought a ticket, and, what is more, a real cardboard one, as they were in those days. He acknowledged, however, that it had been high time for the building to be renovated.
 
As soon as the main doors were opened visitors streamed in to admire and take photographs of the beautifully restored interior with its murals, ornamental plaster work, window frames and lighting.
 
Thanks to much research having been undertaken prior to renovation, the building is now very much as it was when designed by the Zug architects Dagobert Keiser and Richard Bracher in 1908-1909.
 
Paul Knüsel, the city engineer responsible for the project, praised the skills of all those, many of them specialists in their field, who had been involved in the work. Very much involved, too, through frequent consultation, have been employees of the Cantonal Office for the Protection of Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments, Wicki praising very much the close cooperation they had enjoyed.
 
As an indication of the lengths taken to restore the old building, Knüsel mentioned how each individual part of the parquet floor had been removed and numbered so it could be put back as it was. As to the chandelier in the Festsaal, each one of the 8,000 glass stones had been removed and cleaned by hand. What is more, through the installation of French doors where there was previously just wall, light now floods in and superb vistas of the lake and mountains have been opened up, all helping to give the place the atmosphere it once had.
 
One main feature of the renovated building is the new foyer, which, as architect Ralf Edelmann confirmed, had been the biggest structural change to the building. This means that, for the first time, there is now a central reception area for the sale of tickets and providing information in this much wider area.
 
As to the adjoining extension, known as the Ammann building which dates back to 1981, little has been altered here, other than the introduction of state-of-the-art stage equipment costing CHF 4.4 million and the installation of new windows.
 
The reaction of most visitors was most positive though there was criticism from some about the new white and grey colour of the façade, especially bearing in mind pink had been chosen for the adjoining Ammann extension when it was built to give the appearance of it all being one entity.