Lleida lost its first Teatre Principal to a fire on 22 October 1876; the theatre that carries the name today opened on 29 December 1951 on the Plaça de la Paeria, from a project by Humbert Puig Farran and Manuel Cases Lamolla chosen in a competition in 1947 and carried out by a private company with municipal backing. It is the oldest theatre in the city and has long doubled as a cinema with daily screenings — the first editions of Animac, Catalonia's international animation festival, were held here.