Mecklenburg State Theatre

The Mecklenburg State Theatre is the principal theatre of Schwerin in Germany. Its main theatre seats 650 people and is used for the performance of plays, opera, musical theatre and ballet. Designed by Georg Daniel, the present building was built between 1883 and 1886 after the previous court theatre had been destroyed by fire in 1882. It was inaugurated on 3 October 1886 with a performance of Gluck's Iphigénie en Aulide with Marie Wittich in the title role. The complex also includes the State Museum in Schwerin and a 240-seat concert hall, now used for performances of chamber works.

All theatres were closed for the autumn season of 1944, with the staff drafted wherever possible. By German standards, wartime casualties and destruction by bombing in Schwerin were small, in spite of nightly RAF raids and the droning of massive bomber pulks as silver specks on the sky during the day on their way to Berlin.