The Emperor Napoleon III decided to construct a theater in Compiègne to entertain his court in 1866.

The sculptures by Gustave Crauck were made on time, but the ceiling, which was to include paintings by Élie Delaunay, remained bare.

[2] A team of project managers and architects including Renaud Bardon[1] started work in 1990 to complete the building, while another association under Pierre Jourdan was responsible for programming shows.

[3] The theater was officially opened in September 1991 with the opera Henry VIII by Camille Saint-Saëns.

In December 2008, during the Extraordinary General Meeting held at the theater a little over a year after the death of Pierre Jourdan, the two associations were dissolved.