140 years ago, the operation of the current Mahen Theater in Brno was initiated

Prague - The operation of the German Municipal Theater Na hradbách in Brno, now known as Mahenovo Theater, was inaugurated on November 14, 1882. The building of the theater is one of the foremost architectural monuments in Brno and also boasts a significant distinction - it became the first fully electrified theater on the European continent. Currently, the theater is part of the National Theater Brno.

The city council had the theater building constructed between 1881 and 1882. The architectural design was created by the duo Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer. Their Vienna office specialized in theater buildings and designed nearly 50 of them across the territory from Hamburg to Odessa. The building of the theater is constructed in an eclectic style, combining neo-Renaissance, neo-Baroque, and neoclassicism. The theater operated for almost 90 years in its practically unchanged form and with its original technical equipment. In the 1970s, the stage underwent a major reconstruction.

The premiere performance of the theater was the overture to Egmont by Ludwig van Beethoven. Until the construction of the new Janáček Theater in the mid-1960s, Mahenovo Theater predominantly served the opera company. It then became the home stage for the drama company of the National Theater in Brno.