The bases of the two avant-corps are decorated (from left to right) with four major multi-figure groups sculpted by François Jouffroy ( Poetry, also known as Harmony), Jean-Baptiste Claude Eugène Guillaume ( Instrumental Music), Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux ( The Dance, criticised for indecency), and Jean-Joseph Perraud ( Lyrical Drama). They are both made of gilt copper electrotype. The two gilded figural groups, Charles Gumery's L'Harmonie (Harmony) and La Poésie (Poetry), crown the apexes of the principal façade's left and right avant-corps. įaçade of the Palais Garnier with labels indicating the locations of various sculptures These were combined with axial symmetry and modern techniques and materials, including the use of an iron framework, which had been pioneered in other Napoleon III buildings, including the Bibliothèque Nationale and the markets of Les Halles.

The opera was constructed in what Charles Garnier (1825–1898) is said to have told the Empress Eugenie was 'Napoleon III' style The Napoleon III style was highly eclectic, and borrowed from many historical sources the opera house included elements from the Baroque, the classicism of Palladio, and Renaissance architecture blended together.

The structural system is made of masonry walls concealed iron floors, vaults, and roofs. The building is 154.9 metres (508 ft) long 70.2 metres (230 ft) wide at the lateral galleries 101.2 metres (332 ft) wide at the east and west pavilions 10.13 metres (33.2 ft) from ground level to bottom of the cistern under the stage. The Palais Garnier is 56 metres (184 ft) from ground level to the apex of the stage flytower 32 metres (105 ft) to the top of the facade.

3.10 History of the house since openingĭimensions and technical details.

The Palais Garnier also houses the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra de Paris (Paris Opera Library-Museum), which is managed by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France and is included in unaccompanied tours of the Palais Garnier. This opinion is far from unanimous however: the 20th-century French architect Le Corbusier once described it as 'a lying art' and contended that the 'Garnier movement is a décor of the grave'. Another contributing factor is that among the buildings constructed in Paris during the Second Empire, besides being the most expensive, it has been described as the only one that is 'unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank.'

The Palais Garnier has been called 'probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica.' This is at least partly due to its use as the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and, especially, the novel's subsequent adaptations in films and the popular 1986 musical. The theatre has been a monument historique of France since 1923. The company now uses the Palais Garnier mainly for ballet. It was the primary theatre of the Paris Opera and its associated Paris Opera Ballet until 1989, when a new opera house, the Opéra Bastille, opened at the Place de la Bastille. Initially referred to as le nouvel Opéra de Paris (the new Paris Opera), it soon became known as the Palais Garnier, 'in acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence' and the architect Charles Garnier's plans and designs, which are representative of the Napoleon III style. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. The Palais Garnier ( French: ( listen), Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier ( French: ( listen), Garnier Opera), is a 1,979-seat opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France.

Opera tower floor plans