Palais Garnier, Paris

About the Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier is an opera house on Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement. It was built in 1861–1875 for the Paris Opera on the orders of Emperor Napoleon III. The design was chosen in a competition of about 170 entries, won by a little-known 35-year-old architect, Charles Garnier. The theatre soon took his name, in tribute to its extraordinary opulence.

Until 1989 it was the main stage of the Paris Opera and Ballet. When the new Opéra Bastille opened, opera productions moved there and the Garnier became above all the home of ballet. A French historic monument since 1923, it has been called probably the most famous opera house in the world.

What to see inside

• The Grand Staircase — white marble with red and green balustrades.
• The Grand Foyer — a gilded hall 54 metres long.
• The Mosaic Foyer — a glittering vault of mythological scenes.
• The auditorium — red velvet, gilding and the chandelier.
• Chagall's ceiling — scenes from operas by 14 composers.
• The Library-Museum — costumes, sketches and set models.

The Grand Staircase and foyers

The heart of the theatre is the Grand Staircase of white marble with a balustrade of red and green marble. It divides into two flights up to the Grand Foyer, lined by bronze female figures holding lamps. Garnier conceived it as a stage where audiences showed themselves off during intervals, and on opening night he stepped onto its landing to receive the applause himself.

The Grand Foyer, 18 metres high and 54 metres long, was designed as a drawing room for Paris society. Its walls glitter with gilding, mirrors and Paul Baudry's paintings on the history of music, and its windows open onto a loggia above the square. Before it lies the Mosaic Foyer, the first vault in France decorated with ornamental mosaic, with couples from Greek myth on a golden ground.

The auditorium, chandelier and Chagall

The horseshoe-shaped Italian-style auditorium seats 1,979. It is dressed in red velvet and gold, and the safety curtain is painted to look like heavy drapery with tassels. The stage is among the largest in Europe, holding up to 450 performers.

Above hangs a bronze and crystal chandelier weighing about seven tonnes, made to Garnier's design. Around it, in 1964, a new ceiling by Marc Chagall was installed, with vivid scenes from operas by Mozart, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Bizet, Verdi and others. The original painting survives underneath.

The façade and Place de l'Opéra

The façade faces Place de l'Opéra and closes the view along Avenue de l'Opéra from the Louvre. Fourteen painters and mosaicists and seventy-three sculptors worked on it. Gilded statues of Harmony and Poetry crown the top, bronze busts of composers such as Rossini, Beethoven and Mozart stand between the columns, and four sculpture groups below include Carpeaux's famous The Dance.

Garnier told the Empress he was building in the 'Napoleon III style', a blend of Baroque, Palladian classicism and Renaissance over a hidden iron frame. No surface was left undecorated: seventeen kinds of marble and stone, porphyry and gilded bronze were used.

The Phantom of the Opera

Much of the Garnier's worldwide fame comes from Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera (1910), set in this theatre, and from its films and the 1986 musical. The novel's hero lives in the building's depths beside an underground lake.

There really is a water tank under the stage, built by the engineers when they hit groundwater during construction. It also served as a water reserve in case of fire. Visitors can't go down there, but guides love telling the Phantom's legends and pointing out spots linked to the novel.

Tips for your visit

A self-guided visit takes about an hour; an audio guide or tour helps you know where to look and shares the theatre's stories. Come at opening time or after lunch, as groups fill midday. Photos without flash are allowed.

Next door, the Galeries Lafayette department store has a free rooftop terrace with views of the Opéra's dome and the Eiffel Tower. The Louvre and the Tuileries are about 15 minutes' walk away.

To see the hall full of people and music, book an evening ballet: at the interval you can stroll the foyers and staircase just as Garnier intended.

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How to do it right

• Book ahead.
• The hall may be closed.
• Mornings are quieter.
• Ballet at night.

Questions