At the beginning of the 19th century, Carl Gotthard Langhans was commissioned to build a new theater, which was ceremoniously opened on New Year's Day 1802. However, the theater fell victim to a fire in 1817, making a new building unavoidable. King Friedrich Wilhelm III awarded the contract for the theater to architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel, who was, however, bound by several of the king's specifications in his plans. After around three years of construction, the theater was inaugurated in 1821 in the presence of the king and renamed Königliches Schauspielhaus.