Engels teater ('Engel Theatre') was a historic theatre in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

in Finland, active between 1827 and 1860. It was the second theater in Finland after ''

Bonuviers Teater Bonuviers Teater ('Bonuvier Theatre') was a historic theatre in Åbo in Finland, active between 1813 and 1827. It was the first theater in Finland alongside the ''Engels Teater'' in Helsinki, and the first theatre in Åbo. It was the predecessor ...

'' in

Åbo Turku ( ; ; sv, Åbo, ) is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River, in the region of Finland Proper (''Varsinais-Suomi'') and the former Turku and Pori Province (''Turun ja Porin lääni''; 16 ...

, and the first theatre in Helsinki. It was located on Esplanaden at the intersection with Mikaelsgatan and was the predecessor of the Swedish Theatre. The theatre was built to house the travelling theatre companies performing in Helsinki, being either Swedish language companies touring Finland, or German language companies on their way to Saint Petersburg. The building was a small wooden house designed by

Carl Ludvig Engel Carl Ludvig Engel, or Johann Carl Ludwig Engel (3 July 1778 – 14 May 1840), was a German architect whose most noted work can be found in Helsinki, which he helped rebuild. His works include most of the buildings around the capital's monumental ...

in the corner of the

Esplanadi Esplanadi ( sv, Esplanaden), colloquially known as Espa, is an esplanade and urban park in downtown Helsinki, Finland, situated between the Erottaja square and the Market Square, Helsinki, Market Square. It is bordered on its northern and souther ...

. The theatre building was used by travelling theater companies. On 8 February 1833, the theatre company of

Carl Wilhelm Westerlund Carl Wilhelm Westerlund (1809-1879),Biografiskt lexikon för Finland 2. Ryska tiden (2009). was a Finnish stage actor and theatre director. He played in important role in Finnish theater history and managed his own (Swedish language) travelling th ...

performed the play ''Finska flickan eller Hittebarnet på kyrkogården'', in which Maria Silfvan sang a few lines in Finnish, likely the first time the Finnish language had been performed on a Finnish stage, decades prior to

Charlotte Raa-Winterhjelm Hedvig Charlotta Raa-Winterhjelm, née Forssman (20 November 1838 – 7 March 1907), was a Swedish actress active in Sweden, Norway and Finland. She played a pioneer role in Finland by introducing Finnish as a stage language, becoming the first ...

Aleksis Kivi Aleksis Kivi (; born Alexis Stenvall; 10 October 1834 – 31 December 1872) was a Finnish author who wrote the first significant novel in the Finnish language, '' Seitsemän veljestä'' ("Seven Brothers") in 1870. He is also known for his 1864 ...

's ''Lea'' in 1869. One of the most notable of the theatre companies using the building where arguably that of Edvard Stjernström, which enjoyed theatre monopoly in Southern Finland in 1850-53 and single use of the theater houses in Åbo and Helsinki during those years, and being in effect the first permanent theatre staff in Finland, referred to as the "Finnish Company".Gustaf Cygnaeus,
Åbo teater, 1839-1889
' The building was eventually deemed to be to small, and was replaced by the Swedish Theatre.

References

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Finland i 19de seklet. Framstäldt i ord och bild af finska skriftställare och konstnärer
' {{coord missing, Finland Theatres in Finland 19th century in Helsinki Former theatres 1827 in Finland 1860 in Finland 1827 establishments in Europe 1860 disestablishments in Europe Theatres completed in 1827