Soproni Petőfi Színház

You can almost read the building like a timeline in stone and light. The Soproni Petőfi Színház sits on Petőfi tér, and its story starts long before the Art Nouveau façade you see today—long before the name even settled into your ear.

From a small theatre to a new dream

The earliest theatre here opened in 1769, when Sopron became home to what was described as the country’s first stone theatre. It began a little away from the later site, by converting a drying mill into a stage. By 1840, the city replaced that first setup with a purpose-built building on the current location, designed from Vienna architect Franz Lössl. It was a relatively compact rectangular plan with a five-bay frontage—an elegant look achieved with four columns supporting a balcony. But even then, the theatre’s physical charm came with a modern problem: by the early 20th century, the building had serious fire risks. The heated part of everyday life—especially the unheated entrance hall and cloakroom—also wasn’t helping matters.

Fire risk, then a daring rebuild

In 1908, Sopron city officials asked the architectural firm of Fellner and Helmer to design a new theatre.