Berlin club Festsaal Kreuzberg destroyed by huge fire

Berlin club Festsaal Kreuzberg has been wiped out in a fire.

Berlinger Morgenpost [via Resident Advisor] report that the blaze began at around 9.00pm on Saturday evening, and continued on through until 6.30am the following morning. Thankfully, the fire took place before the ballroom-style club had opened its doors to the public; aside from a member of the venue staff who was “slightly injured”, no-one was seriously hurt. Approximately 300 firemen were required to contain the blaze, which threatened to spread to neighbouring buildings in the densely packed urban neighbourhood.

In a website post, the house and techno club’s owners have confirmed that the 300 square-metre space will be closed until further notice . Acts to play the venue in the last few months include Theo Parrish, Laurel Halo, Mark Ernestus and, on the day before the fire, KRS-One. Images of the devastation are available here, and suggest it will be a long time before the space is fit for purpose again.

Sadly, the fire isn’t the first to trouble clubland in the last six months: in January, an enormous nightclub fire in Saint Maria, Brazil resulted in over 200 deaths.