Altes Theater (Leipzig)

Commissioned by the businessman Benedikt Zehmisch in 1766 from the architect Georg Rudolph Fäsch (1710–1787), it was at first called the Theater auf der Rannischen Bastei and sited on the foundations of a bastion on the city wall.

The building was renovated and extended in 1796 and 1802 and finally converted to the classical style in 1817 by Friedrich Weinbrenner and the university's chief-of-works Carl August Benjamin Siegel.

On 7 December 1912, it hosted the world premiere of the 6-scene play Peterchens Mondfahrt by Gerdt von Bassewitz, who turned it into an illustrated children's book in 1915.

On 8 December 1923 it also saw the world premiere of Bertolt Brecht's drama Baal, causing a scandal which led the mayor to cancel the rest of its run.

The building was destroyed by a British air raid on the night of 3–4 December 1943 and the ruins demolished after the war.