It was built on the city's oldest square (Zelný trh) and began its life in Renaissance times as the Taverna (Tavern) Theatre.

[1] At the beginning of the 17th century, Brno city council purchased and remodelled a complex of medieval houses located on Zelný trh.

[2] The tavern was extended with assembly rooms for holding ceremonies and receptions, and in 1634, another house was integrated into the main building.

[2] Known in the 18th century as the Taverna Theatre (or Theater in der Taffern to the German-speaking inhabitants of the city),[3] it served as a venue for theatrical performances presented mainly in German and Italian.

[2] In October 1767, a smallpox epidemic forced Leopold Mozart and his children Wolfgang and Nannerl to escape from Vienna and accept shelter offered by the brother of their patron, Salzburg Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach.

[7] After a series of extensive fires in 1785 and 1786, the city council decided to rebuild the theatre in the neoclassical architectural style, with a new two-story main hall.