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When I was in my twenties and early thirties, I used to travel abroad a lot, especially before I had my boys. Of all the places I visited, I love Paris, San Francisco, Salzburg, Bath,Barcelona, Lake District, Venice, and Lucerne (in order of preference). Despite having been to Paris twice, I never had the chance to go inside Le Opera. Imagine my delight when my dear friend Angela sent me a set of slides on The Paris Opera House.

According to Wikipedia:

The Palais Garnier, also known as the Opéra de Paris or Opéra Garnier, but more commonly as the Paris Opéra, is a 2,200-seat opera house on the Place de l'Opéra in Paris, France. A grand landmark designed by Charles Garnier in the Neo-Baroque style, it is regarded as one of the architectural masterpieces of its time.

The building is located in the 9th arrondissement of Paris and is served by the metro station Opéra.

Upon its inauguration in 1875, the opera house was officially named the Académie Nationale de Musique - Théâtre de l'Opéra. It retained this title until 1978 when it was re-named the Théâtre National de l'Opéra de Paris. After the opera company chose the Opéra Bastille as their principal theatre upon its completion in 1989, the theatre was re-named as the Palais Garnier, though its more official name, the Académie Nationale de Musique, is still sprawled above the columns of its front façade. In spite of the change of names and the Opera company's relocation to the Opéra Bastille, the Palais Garnier is still known by many people as the Paris Opéra, as have all of the many theatres which have served as the principal venues of the Parisian Opera and Ballet since its founding. For more please CLICK THIS LINK.

The Paris Opera House is one of the most beautiful buildings in the world. It contains levels beyond levels of cellars, fountains, chandeliers and even its own ghost! The history of this performance hall is dark and interesting, and spans from architecture to literature and music.

The cause for this new opera house actually stemmed from Napoleon III. When he was arriving to the premiere of a new singer with his wife, the royal procession was bombed by a group of dissenters. Over eighty people were killed, prompting Napoleon III to ask for an opera house with a covered side entrance where royalty could enter discreetly. When plans finally were made for the design of the opera house, over 200 entries were informally submitted, and 171 were chosen to be viewed. Charles Garnier received the commission after some deliberation. He was an unknown architect, but a stunning design and several court allies hand a hand in his success.

The House seats two thousand and has seventeen stories, taking up three acres of land. Seven of these are below the ground, and two contain pieces of the famous lake later depicted in Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. Work on this structure began in 1861 and ended fifteen years later. It cost over forty-seven million francs, and gave its creators and workers a massive headache.

Part of the mystique of the opera house is the levels that it inhabits underground. There are chorus rooms, green rooms, ball rooms, set rooms, cellars for waste props, closets, dressing rooms, and many more kinds of rooms making up the building. The underground levels contains all sorts of gruesome objects from various operas that have been produced. Their gruesome effect sparked the idea behind Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera. The lake on the last floor was unintentionally sprung when a worker knocked against a pipe underground. It has been seen by a few select eyes alone, as normal tours only permit the top of the house to be seen.

The Phantom of the Opera, later turned into an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, was a book based upon the opera house. It portrays a young singer, Christine, and the Phantom who falls in love with her, Erik. Other characters include Meg, a young dancer, and Raoul, the lover that eventually wins Christine's heart. In true Parisian tradition, Leroux's tale decrees that the Phantom is a mysterious force underground, and was once a circus exhibit that went wrong. In the book, and also the show, all levels of the opera house are used, from the lowest cellar to the roof. The Phantom kills, maims and scares members of the cast, who in turn chase him down and drive him from the theater. In the original story, the Phantom commits suicide by drowning himself because he cannot win Christine's love.


Please CLICK THIS LINK to view the slide presentation of The Opera House in Paris. Thanks and have a nice day!