Situated close to the Heerlen train station, this egg shaped building dates back to 1938 and was one of the oldest cinemas of the Netherlands.

In 1903 Laurentius van Bergen, who ran a funfair company, decided to start a traveling cinema besides his other attractions.

Twenty years later he left his company to his sons Alexander, Max and Mathieu.

Heerlen, a booming mine city, seemed a good place to run another cinema, although there were already a substantial number of cinemas in downtown Heerlen (Stadschouwburg, Hollandia, and Universal[4]), but since they all belonged to the same owner (Verenigde Bioscoop-Theaters te Heerlen-Hoensbroek, a company owned by Erwin Hirschberg and his brother Curt[4]) the Nederlands Bioscoopbond allowed a new cinema in Heerlen.

After a building period of 100 days, the Royal Theater opened its doors on January 29, 1938, and surpassed the Hollandia Theater, which had reopened two weeks earlier, in size.