A must-see in Paris! The Phantom of the Opera, Chagall’s fresco, the balconies, the architecture, the paintings, the red velvets seats, the “petits rats de l’Opera, the orchestra… The Opera Garnier is the 5th most visited payed monument in France: 700 000 visitors a year… Of course, everyone would prefer to have it only for themselves and us first !
Meet your guide at the bottom of the staircase in front of the Garnier Opera.
From the monumental staircase to the Grand Foyer, discover this world-famous architectural masterpiece, in the pure Napoleon III style. We will of course first talk about the history of the construction entrusted to the young architect Charles Garnier. It was the thirteenth opera house built in Paris and the construction lasted fifteen years with many interruptions.
We will discover together the great hall of 1900 seats and its ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964 over the original dome of Jules Eugène Lenepveu. We walk along the grand staircase – like we were bourgeois at the end of the nineteenth century – that leads to the foyers, which are themselves richly decorated and bear witness to a time when another show, a social one, was performed during the intermissions.
To finish this visit in beauty, we will venture into the Galeries Lafayette, located just behind the Opera! After admiring the dome, we’ll go up to the seventh floor, to the terrace where we’ll have a breathtaking view of the Opera, the Haussmannian boulevards and all of Paris!
This dive in the Haussmannian Paris will fascinate you, as much by its decoration as by the stories linked to its construction… Did you know that the architect Charles Garnier had to pay his own place to attend the inauguration show of the Opera?
So, are you ready to follow your guide to discover the magnificent Opéra Garnier in a different way?
