Built by Architect Charles Garnier from 1860 till 1875 under the order of Napoleon III, this opera house is the biggest in Europe in terms of surface (172 meters’ long, 124 meters’ wide and 79 meters’ high)
During its construction, Garnier hadn’t foreseen that, under the location of the opera house, there was a ground water supplied by the prehistorical inlet of the Seine, which would cause a permanent flood. During the construction, water kept infiltrating. After separating the underground by a double wall, Garnier ordered to build a subterranean lake in depth in a concrete and cement basement in order to contain the pressure of the waters.
The Opera house is the most representative monument of official art of the Second Empire, the symbol of luxe and the Parisian pleasures. It’s both a theatre and a museum that is abundantly decorated of paintings and sculptures. Its red and golden theatre, 20 meters’ tall, 30 meters’ wide, can receive 1900 spectators. The original dome painted with copper is unaffected, but is now hidden by a fake ceiling decorated by Chagall in 1964.
These monuments, one of the most prestigious in Paris, conserve more than 80 000 partitions and books, 25 000 outfit models and decors of plays and ballets. It was renovated in 1996.
|
