For over 200 years, the Stadttheater Königsberg (Königsberg municipal theatre) in Königsberg was one of the most respected theatres in Prussia and in the German Empire. History Forerunner The Königsberg theatre began with carnival games and school comedies at the beginning of the 16th century. In 1552, Conquest of Rome by Georg Sabinus was performed in the courtyard, and in 1573 The Fall of Man by the schoolmaster Roll. In 1605, Marie Eleonore of Cleves had English comedians perform for her in Königsberg Castle. In 1618, they played Shakespeare. The first opera, Cleomedes by Heinrich Albert, was performed by students in 1635 before Władysław IV Vasa. In 1688 Christopher Marlowe's The Tragic History of Doctor Faustus was performed. Arranged by director Hilferding, the Schönemann company played Dr. Faustus, Molière's Tartuffe and Gottsched's The Dying Cato. In 1753 Frederick the Great donated Kreytzenschen Square to the theatre director Konrad Ernst Ackermann to build a permanent theatre. With the money of businessman Friedrich Saturgus, Ackermann built the 300-seat theatre as the first in the Kingdom of Prussia. It was opened in 1755 with Racine's "Mithridate". Lessing's Miss Sara Sampson followed. Fearing the Seven Years' War, Ackermann left Königsberg in 1756 and went to Leipzig. In 1768 Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder wrote the first theatre reviews in Johann Jakob Kanter's Königsberg Scholars and Political Newspapers. In 1769 director Karl Theophil Döbbelin performed Minna von Barnhelm. Caroline Schuch used the Singspiel between 1771 and 1787. In 1785 there were the first performances of The Robbers, The Fiesco Conspiracy in Genoa, Don Carlos and Clavigo. In 1788 the Schuch siblings brought The Abduction from the Seraglio, in 1793 Don Giovanni and in 1794 The Magic Flute. In 1795 the theatre burned down. Plays continued in the old town of Junkerhof. The first performance of The Marriage of Figaro took place there in 1798. In 1800 a new theatre was built on the old site based on a design by Friedrich Gilly. After another fire, it was rebuilt in 1802. Director Steinberg brought Zacharias Werner's Consecration of Power, Wallenstein and Mary Stuart in 1803, Nathan the Wise in 1804 and The Bride of Messina in 1807. At the beginning of the Coalition Wars, songs by Max von Schenkendorf were performed. In 1809 Racine's tragedy Phèdre was staged. After that the theatre became a concert and society centre. Municipal theatre The foundation stone for the