were often used by travelling theater companies in 17th-century Europe. Because both ball houses, Stora Bollhuset and Lilla Bollhuset in Stockholm were used by theater companies during the same period, it is difficult to establish which particular building was used by which company at which occasion, and there is some confusion about the theatrical activity during this first period. It is further confusing because a third building, Lejonkulan, was also used by the travelling theater companies during the same period. What is known is that Lilla Bollhuset is confirmed to have been used as a theater between 1662 and 1686, and Lejonkulan between 1667 and 1689, while the first confirmed public theater performance took place in Stora Bollhuset 29 October 1684. During the 17th century, foreign travelling theater companies often visited Stockholm, especially from Germany and the Netherlands. An English troupe, the troupe of Joris Jollifoot, played in the city in 1648-1649. The German theater troop of Christian Theun l. Thum (or Thaumb) performed in the city from 1628 to 1655, but it is not known if they ever performed in . The foreign actors at Bollhuset did play for the public, but as most people could not understand foreign languages, it remained mostly a theater for the royal court and elite. An illustrating example of this is that the foreign troupe that seems to have been most popular among the public, the German troupe of the 1730s, was a troupe with displayed acrobatics, fireworks, tightrope-walking and pantomime and thus, with their more visual way of acting, was easier to understand for those who could not understand the language spoken. In 1686, the first Swedish language theater, the non professional student theater Dän Swänska Theatren, was inaugurated in Lejonkulan, and when Lejonkulan was demolished in 1689, it was moved to Bollhuset, where it performed until it was dissolved in 1691. Thereafter, Bollhuset was again used by foreign theater companies in parallel to the Lilla Bollhuset. In 1699, Bollhuset was again taken over by the crown and permanently redecorated to a theater for the use of the French court theater. The French theater used it until 1706, when the theater was closed due to the Great Northern War. After the peace of 1721, it was again used by foreign theater companies. The first national theater; Kungliga svenska skådeplatsen During the Age of Liberty, the first national theater was to be founded