Opera Garnier
Opera Garnier
PALAIS GARNIER
OPÉRA GARNIER
The Palace of the Opéra Garnier – also known as the Palais Garnier – does not necessarily have to be visited as part of a performance. The exceptionally beautiful palace can also be explored on your own or with an audio guide.
The Opera Garnier (built between 1862 and 1875) is one of the two opera houses in Paris. Here the focus is on ballet, while in the newer Opera Bastille (opened in 1989) mainly performs classical operas.
What makes the Palais Garnier so special is its lavish interior decoration. At the time of its construction, it was important to visit the opera house in order to see, participate and be seen. Naturally, the interior design had to play its part – after all, going to the opera was an event! This is particularly reflected in the Grand Foyer and the enormous auditorium (although this is not always accessible).
Opening times:
Daily, 10.00 – 17.00 h
My Rating:
The Positives:
Splendid, splendid... A visit to the Opera Garnier really is a feast for the senses. If you love pompous places like Versailles or the Musée Jacqemart André, this is the place for you.
The Negatives:
Unfortunately, there are a few deductions for:
- Lack of organisation and friendliness
- It is understandable that the opera hall is closed to visitors during performances, but when we wanted to go in briefly after the end of a performance to take a few photos, we were rudely thrown out.
- there are no cloakrooms for jackets or larger bags.
You can do better!
Tip:
The visitor tablet (duration: 1 hour) is expensive at EUR 8, but well worth the money.
Incl: Audio guide, 360° virtual reality views + interactive elements.
Last Modified: 24.04.2024 | Céline & Anne
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Opera Garnier Tickets
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Opera Garnier
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WHAT IS THERE
TO SEE?
Firstly, it is worth having a closer look at the magnificent façade of the building.
Many famous personalities are immortalised here in reliefs, including German composers such as Mozart and Beethoven. French writers such as Molière and Victor Hugo can also be seen, whose works were often adapted for the opera. Musicians and dancers who have shaped the world of opera and ballet are also depicted.
Unfortunately, the façade was being renovated during our visit (until the end of 2024) and was only partially visible.
Rotonde des Abonnés
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Phytia well
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Great staircase
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more Salons
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Grand Foyer
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Opera Hall
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A bit of history
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We start at the
Rotonde des Abonnés
The visitor entrance is on the left-hand side of the building… And it’s really busy here! The queue is already quite long for a winter month. We’ll have to check for you how it develops when it’s summer! Packed with bag and jacket – because there are no lockers – we grabbed the tablet and started our tour.
You enter the Subscribers’ Rotunda (I hope that is the right translation for this), which is located directly below the opera hall. This is where Parisians who could afford their own box used to hold court before performances. In the magnificently carved dome with a diameter of 14 metres, which is supported by 16 columns, Charles Garnier immortalised his name as the architect – unusual for the time.
The
Phytia Well
The beautiful Phytia Fountain awaits you under the staircase.
Phytia were the oracle priestesses in the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, who were put into a trance by vapours from a fissure in the earth and predicted the future.
This Phytia sculpture was created by a woman, namely Adèle d’Affry, Duchess of Castiglione Colonna (1836-1879). Female artists were still so unusual at the time that the Duchess preferred to work under a male pseudonym: Marcello.
Charles Garnier met her in Rome in 1870, just as she was completing the sculpture, and was so impressed that he was determined to have her for his building.
The
Great Staircase
Via the staircases to the left and right of the Phytia, you reach the grand staircase with its 30-metre-high vaulted ceiling.
It is the centrepiece of the building and leads to the foyers and the boxes. It is made of white, green and red marble as well as onyx and is magnificently decorated with sculptures, chandeliers, and all kinds of ornaments.
Thirty marble columns surround it. The pedestals are guarded on each side by a female bronze figure with a torch, created by Albert-Ernest Carrier de Belleuse. Today, of course, light bulbs are screwed in, but in the early days of the opera, the lighting was still gas (have a look behind the left plinth before you go up the second staircase, there is a salamander hiding the gas pipe).
On the next plateau, be sure to take a look upwards. The magnificent ceiling was painted by Isidore Alexandre-Auguste Pils and shows four different motifs: the triumph of Apollo, the magic of music, Minerva fighting against violence, watched by the gods of Olympus and the city of Paris as it receives the plans for the new opera.
FURTHER
SALONS
Through the caryatid portal, which is labelled “Amphitheatre, Baignoires, Orchestra”, you now reach the gallery that leads to the boxes. Charles Garnier immortalised selected personalities from the world of opera here with busts, including Hector Berlioz, composer and opera critic.
Back up the grand staircase to the other side, into the pre-foyer. This is where the full splendour and glory begins! Magnificent mosaics and golden, colourful, shimmering vaulted ceilings await you.
The pre-foyer is bordered at one end by the Salon de la Lune. It served as a transition to the smoking area and the symbolism, as described by Charles Garnier, is not without a certain wink, as opera-goers are said to “walk through ice to show the way to the place where a light is lit”. Owls and bats in the starry sky adorn the dome.
The Salon du Soleil at the other end of the pre-foyer is also full of symbolism. Auguste Rubé and Philippe Chaperon decorated it with salamanders, stars, lightning, and sunbeams. This is where visitors “make their way through the fire to be served a sorbet”, as this room is the transition to the Salon du Glacier, where refreshments were served.
This salon is designed in the style of the Belle Époque and was only completed after the opening. George Clarin painted the ceiling with dancing bacchantes and animals. Eight tapestries by Alexis Joseph Mazerolle show the “menu”, for example champagne, tea or coffee, but also scenes from fishing and hunting.
Fans of historical documents should not miss the library museum. It was originally designed as the emperor’s rotunda to allow him safe and direct access to the building (you can find out more about this in the “History” section). Today, around 600,000 documents relating to the 300-year history of the building are kept here, including books, magazines, paintings, programmes, letters, photos, sketches, and posters.
THE PRECIOUS
GRAND FOYER
The real highlight, however, is of course the Grand Foyer, where opera-goers stroll and show themselves off during the intervals. It is modelled on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles, the many mirrors are almost six metres high. The hall as a whole is 154 metres long, 13 metres wide and 18 metres high.
The ceiling was designed by the painter Paul Baudry with scenes from music, comedy, and tragedy. Charles Garnier brought him all the way from Rome, where he created replicas of the Sistine Chapel.
Twenty statues adorn the walls. They represent qualities that a good artist must possess. Garnier himself has immortalised himself twice in the Grand Foyer. With a statue of the sculptor Carpeaux (in the centre of one of the side walls) and a bust depicting him as Apollo (on the ceiling above the fireplace at the front).
The
OPERA HALL
Can the opera hall even keep up, you ask?
When there are no performances taking place, you can also visit the horseshoe-shaped opera hall, the Auditorium. The shape is perfect for seeing (and of course being seen) from all 1900 (!) seats.
Red velvet dominates here. The stage is the largest in Europe and offers space for 450 artists.
Twelve heads of Greek goddesses and nymphs adorn the edges of the dome. Among them are Iris, Amphitrite, Flora, Pandora, Psyche, Daphne and Galatea. In the centre was originally a painting by Jules-Eugène Lenepveu, Napoleon III’s favourite painter.
However, it was replaced in the 1960s by a work by Marc Chagall in the typical bright colours. He painted it at the invitation of his friend André Malraux, the French Minister of Culture at the time. But it was an affront to the Parisians, who felt that the work did not fit in at all with the rest of the house’s style.
OPERA GARNIER
HISTORY & ARCHITECTURE
The fact that we can visit this magnificent building today is thanks to an emperor who was concerned about its safety. In 1858, Napoleon III visited the Paris Opera with his wife and was almost the victim of an assassination attempt. However, it went wrong.
He then decided to have a new opera built entirely to his own specifications. One example of this is the entrance and the rooms for him to stay in before the performance, which today house the library. This was to ensure his safety.
He organised a competition, which was won in 1861 by the then unknown young architect Charles Garnier.
The building was to play a central role in Baron Haussmann’s new plans for Paris, so the site was chosen in the heart of the city, with a direct link to the Louvre via one of the main avenues.
Garnier’s design envisaged a building in the typical neo-baroque style of 19th century French architecture (a mixture of classicism, baroque, and renaissance). Over 30 different types of marble were used inside and out!
Construction began in 1862 and the first difficulty was encountered straight away: the central building site had a disadvantage: a very high groundwater table. But Garnier did not let this stop him. He simply created an artificial lake that was sealed off at the top in order to “dry out” the ground. Even today, the Paris fire brigade still has to pump out the water regularly, but they take a pragmatic approach: it is used for training and in the event of a fire, the basin serves as a fire-fighting pond. All good then 😉
Construction stalled in 1870. And who was to blame? We Germans, in a way. Although, historians still argue today about who actually started the Franco-Prussian War. In any case, Napoleon III was no longer emperor and no longer really had anything to do with his “personal” opera. The imperial lounge was therefore never completed as originally planned.
Despite the delay, the opera house was able to celebrate its opening in 1875!
Fun fact: In the years following the opening, there was a rumour that the opera house was haunted. Strange noises were coming from underground (you guessed it, the artificial lake was to blame…) and during a performance in 1896, the chandelier in the opera hall, weighing several tonnes, fell from the ceiling and killed a concierge.
This accident was never solved – but it left its mark… Gaston Leroux created a literary monument to the story in his famous novel “Phantom of the Opera” from 1910. There, the accident happens because the Phantom’s demands are not met. One of these was that box no. 5 should always be kept free for the Phantom.
That’s why box no. 5 is the only one that is actually reserved by name… and guess which name 😉
Garnier died in 1898 – thanks to the opera as the most famous architect of the 19th century. On the ramp on the north side, you can admire the monument that was erected in his honour.
German composers have also repeatedly celebrated great successes here: in 1911, Richard Wagner’s “Ring” was frenetically acclaimed, as was Richard Strauss for “Salome”. George Frideric Handel was honoured with an entire monument in the vestibule, as was Christoph Willibald Gluck.
A new heyday of opera began with the appointment of the Swiss Rolf Liebermann in 1973. One of the reasons for this was that he had works sung in the original language and engaged only the best international choreographers, stage designers, etc.
A major renovation campaign began in 1989 – the first thing to go was the suspicious chandelier 🙂 The renovation continues to this day. The stage curtain followed in 1996 and the Grand Foyer and its adjoining rooms in 2004. The electrics, the entire stage and the auditorium were also renovated.
As we could see during our visit, the façade has not yet been completed. But in 2025 – just in time for its 150th anniversary – the Opera Garnier should shine in all its new splendour.
Official website of the Palais/Opera Granier (FR/EN): www.operadeparis.fr
Text and image rights: © Céline Mülich, 2023 – 2024
