Turku was the capital city of Finland during Finland's epoch as a part of Sweden, and Swedish theatre companies visited Finland during the 18th-century, the first of whom was the Stenborg Troupe in 1761 and the company of Carl Seuerling in the 1780s. There where however, no proper theatre building until the "Bonuviers Teater" was erected in the 1810s. When the old theatre was destroyed during the Great Fire of Turku in 1827, there was a need of a new theater house.