The Harmonie association was founded in Leeuwarden in 1874, and its first building — a sociëteit used for stage work but also for auctions, fairs, gymnastics and circuses — was finished in 1881. The present house on the Ruiterskwartier dates from 1994, to a design by Frits van Dongen, and has three theatre halls; the largest takes a thousand people under a very high stage tower. It is the biggest theatre in Friesland and one of the five largest in the Netherlands, drawing some 300,000 visitors a year.