The southern wing apartment of the Palace, which Antal Grassalkovich I rendered at the disposal of his friend, Count Kristóf Migazzi, Bishop of Vác and Cardinal Archbishop of Vienna, was converted into a theatre by Prince Antal Grassalkovich II between 1782 and 1785. The Palace theatre was opened earlier than the Castle Theatre that the Buda Carmelite church was converted into at the instigation of Farkas Kempelen in 1787.