At the beginning of the 20th century the Theatre Hall behind the Town Hall (the present Piast cinema on Ratuszowa street) and the ‘Archduke Eugen Hall’ in the ‘Austria’ hotel ceased to be sufficient for the developing town. Cieszyn traders, craftsmen and entrepreneurs, together with the town authorities, decided to build a theatre that would meet the new needs. The initiative was also a result of the nationalist battle that grew in force in Cieszyn. The theatre was supposed to become the centre of German culture in the town. In 1902 a private Association for the Building of the Theatre (Theaterbauverein) came into being and it diligently collected half a million crowns. The association turned to ‘Fellner & Helmer’, an internationally famous and experienced architecture atelier in Vienna that specialized in theatre building.

That famous European atelier was founded by Ferdinand Fellner together with Hermann Helmer in 1872. By 1915 they had built more than 200 structures; castles, palaces, villas, town houses, hotels, factories, banks and department stores all over Europe. That number also includes 48 theatres; among others, those in Vienna, Augsburg, Salzburg, Karlsbad, Zurich, Berlin and, on Polish ground, in Stanisławów, Toruń and Łańcut. After numerous consultations and the acceptance of plans, in 1908 the work started. The Eugen Fulda building firm was the main contractor. Hugo Baruch, a Berlin and Viennese entrepreneur, who specialized in erecting theatrical stages, also took part in the building work as well as the ‘Pittel&Brausewetter’ firm from Vienna that provided elements of reinforced concrete.

The theatre was erected in the place where the first parish church in town had been located until the end of the 18th century and then – a style-less barracks. The building work was finished in 1909. The interior, equipped in a modern way, had 770 seats (at present 630), a rotary stage, an iron fireproof safety curtain, its own boiler room for central heating and a power station, a decoration Cieszyn and costume storage room, a ballet room and the dressing rooms. The Cieszyn theatre characterizes itself as modernized late Baroque that reflects the granting of the Art Nouveau stylistics, fashionable at that time, to the 18th century prototypes. It brought results in the form of extremely soft external architecture; with many deflected moulds and arches and, in the case of the interior (the audience hall and the foyer) – white walls and rich golden stucco work that added a lot of charm and splendour.

The formal inauguration of the new theatre took place on September, 24th, 1910 and the Association for the Building of the Theatre transformed itself into a German Theatrical Association (Deutscher Theaterverein) that managed the theatre. The visit of the young Archduke Karl Franz Josef and his wife, Princess Zita de Bourbon of Parma (from 1916 the last Emperial couple in Austria) was a great event. They arrived in Cieszyn on March 16th 1912, a few months after their wedding, on their way to Kołomyja in Galicia. After a rest at the castle and a formal supper, following the distinguished couple’s special wish , the operetta ‘Eva’ by Lehar was performed in the Cieszyn Theatre in the evening. The house was tightly filled with an elegant audience which stood up to greet the distinguished guests. Oskar Gärtner, the director of the theatre, handed them a program in the royal box, that was printed in golden letters on white silk. Before midnight, after the performance was over, the archduke Karl thanked the Cieszynians, in cordial terms, for a truly Viennese evening.

The repertoire of the ‘German Theatre in Cieszyn’ (Deutsches Theater in Teschen) was in German. However, for economic reasons, the association was forced to rent the theatre for Polish performances as well. After the Second World War the theatre was named after Adam Mickiewicz.