Opéra National de Paris

Opéra Garnier

And the winner is…. Charles Garnier!

In 1860 an architectural competition was organized for the new opera house in Paris. Charles Garnier's design was the unanimous choice. He was one of the 171 participating architects.

Garnier created an Opera House and stage in the traditional Italian style, and in a grandiose setting. He found his inspiration in the Grand Theatre in Bordeaux and by the Italian and French villas of the 17th and 18th centuries.

A night at the opera should be a pleasant excuse for meeting people and renewing acquaintances for the Parisian moneyed and social elite. All parts of the building (passages, halls, foyers, staircases, and rotundas) occupy a far larger area than the theatre itself. The theatre proper “only” seats 2200. Total surface of the Paris Opéra is 11,000 square meters!


It took Garnier’s team 14 years to build this masterpiece. The works were slowed down by the discovery of an underground lake and spring. This had to be drained before they could start building. A concrete well was designed to carry the enormous stage and was filled with water. Gaston Laroux popularised the legend of this underground lake in his Phantom of the Opera.

One of the highlights in the opera auditorium is definitely the great chandelier (six tons!) hangs from and illuminates the ceiling by Marc Chagall. This colourful paintng dates from 1964 and covers Jules-Eugène Lenepveu’s original decoration of the ceiling.