Art: ROCOCO IN MUNICH

I TREMBLE when I look forward to the reopening of the

Residenztheater," said Rococo Theater Expert Dr. Giinther Schone, director of Munich's Theater Museum. "I am afraid that the new gold leaf will shine too brightly and the walls will lack dust, the patina of age." But after two years of detailed restoration, the interior of Munich's rococo Residenztheater last week looked very much like the original—right down to the patina of age.

The jewel-box theater was built during the reign of Elector Maximilian III Joseph (1745-77), of linden wood from the forests of Murnau, following the design of French Architect Francois de...