The current Ion Luca Caragiale National Theatre in Bucharest opened on December 20, 1973. Horia Maicu, Romeo Belea and Nicolae Cucu designed the initial project, Cezar Lăzărescu modified it in 1983, and Romeo Belea led a remodeling in 2014 after extensive renovation from 2012. It holds 2,613 seats across seven auditoriums, the largest being the 940-seat Ion Caramitru Hall.
It replaced an earlier theatre, founded as the Teatrul cel Mare din București. The Societatea Filarmonica, founded by Ion Heliade Rădulescu and Ion Câmpineanu, bought the Câmpinencii Inn in 1836 to build a national theatre. The Viennese architect A. Hefft was engaged in 1846, and the theatre opened on December 31, 1852.
A Luftwaffe bombardment of Bucharest destroyed that theatre on August 24, 1944. The Ministry of Culture of Romania owns the current building.
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