Raise Your Glass

Photo: Jeff Miller.

Everything old is new again at Der Stiftskeller, the popular gathering space inside Memorial Union. The bar first opened in 1962, and painter Kurt Schaldach added twenty German-themed murals in 1978. Earlier this year, a team of artists spent four weeks restoring the paintings, including the one pictured here showing an old German proverb. Some of the murals were moved and reproduced to make room for a new elevator that will finally make the west end of the building handicap accessible. Inside Der Stiftskeller, the bar is new, but — with an eye on preserving the past — it is made in part from salvaged wood of a decayed oak tree that once stood on the Terrace. The renovations are part of the first comprehensive restoration of the Union since its construction in 1928. Work is expected to be complete by summer 2016.

Published in the Summer 2014 issue