Opera Garnier

5:31 PM

A highlight of our Paris Pass was the guided tour through the Palais Garnier Opera House.

I love the history and it is just too perfectly fascinating to share!

Opera de Paris had moved to a temporary location in called the Salle le Peletier. Emporer Napoleon III attended often. There weren't movie theatres, television or other entertainments so not only was the Opera one of the few evening entertainments but it was the hang out for the socially elite. After an assassination attempt in 1858 on Napoleon III out of the Salle Le Peletier, the building was deemed unsafe for the Head of State to attend with the public. He needed a more secure entrance.

Charles Garnier won a blind competition put on by Empress. She had an obvious favourite so there was a shock when she loved a newbie architect's design. This was Charles Garnier's first big project.
The main stipulation for the design was for the safety of Napoleon III. Exiting a temporary opera house, an assassination attempt terrified him from being out in open in public. This entrance was for his own personal use.

Garnier was a genius of his time. He knew he could circulate his name with just a few little details. Like the ceiling in this main reception. He signed his name is this complex ceiling carving so that when one person gazes up to try and make it out, others start to look and the chain reaction of conversation, pointing fingers and intrigue rippled around the room. Genius move.

It's a stunning view from the entrance to the beginning of the wide, ornate stairs.
It's a monument within a monument.
Garnier invented the Napoleon III style.

The Emporer's protected entry was pretty close to last on the list of completion so there are large, untouched stones in this section as the Republic refused to pay to finish the stonework.

The new (as of 1964) ceiling painted by Marc Chagall

You either hate it or you love it. Yes, the colors are bright and gaudy and yes, it looks kind of childish; but it is all deliberate. The most well-known ballets can be recognised by even the least ballet-friendly people. Swan Lake, the Magic Flute, etc. Notre Dame and event the facade of the Opera House can be found in Chagall's painting.

Some think it looks like

What the original ceiling would have looked like. It was marred by smoke and dust from years of gas lamps.

The auditorium is an Italian horseshoe shape and holds under 2,000 seats. This box to the left of the stage was the Emperor's box. It boats the WORST view, tied only with the box directly opposite.

The Empress' box. These boxes were not reserved for the Heads of State for the viewing the ballet/opera but for being viewed by everyone in attendance. The spectators of the ballet/opera were just as entertained by seeing who had shown up, what everyone else was wearing or the styles of hair in the room, probably even more so than actually enjoying the ballet or very long Italian opera!

We didn't get to see the stage with the fire curtain up as they are off-season and are doing repair work. But the stage is different from many in the U.S. as it is inclined, like a slope. It is called a raked stage.This is so the dancer at the rear of the stage is as visible as the ballerina in the front. The rehearsal rooms are also raked so that the dancers can condition their legs for the stage. I bet it makes a pirouette interesting to re-learn. Because of the stage, the ballets are most confined to this venue while the operas are performed largely in the Opera Bastille a few miles away. It is easier for singers to walk up and down the incline than for the dancers to switch from raked to flat.

Bucket list item added: See a ballet in the Palais Garnier!

Box 5 is still kept empty. More by superstition than anything else. It's the box just above the woman (beige shirt) giving a tour.

Comfy velvet chairs.

A lesson in Opulence

The Grand Staircase

Garnier also put his face on his masterpiece. The silver and gold bust in the archway is Garnier. His wife is opposite him so the Garnier's are heads of the hall.