ParisEncore: ~Palais Garnier and the Passages~

Saturday, July 23, 2011

~Palais Garnier and the Passages~

The Palais Garnier was built on the orders of Napoleon III as part of the great Parisian reconstruction project carried out by Baron Haussmann. The project for an opera house was put out to competition and was won by Charles Garnier, an unknown 35-year-old architect. The Palais Garnier is decorated with Baroque sumptuousness with marbles columns and lavish statuary. It was inaugurated on 5 January 1875.

The exterior was restored in 2000 to reveal it's rich colors and golden statues.

Though originally built to house the Opera, today the Palais Garnier serves at the venue for performances of the Paris Ballet. The Paris Opera performs at the modern Opera Bastille built in 1989.

The grand staircase

The Grand Staircase is one of the most famous features of the Palais Garnier. Built in marble of various colours, the double stairway leads to the foyers and the different levels of the auditorium. To take a virtual tour of the Palais Garnier click HERE The foyers are richly decorated. Garnier intended the Grand Foyer to resemble the gallery of a classical chateau; it was renovated in 2004.

The main auditorium is elegantly decorated in red velvet and gold leaf and has 1,900 seats. It is lit by the immense crystal chandelier hanging below Marc Chagall's brightly colored ceiling. An accident involving the chandelier in 1896 provided the inspiration for Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera.

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The Paris passages are covered shopping arcades ( the original shopping malls).Most of these pedestrian walkways were built in the first half of the 19th century to protect the wealthy clientele from the weather. Paris had up to 150 arcades in 1850; today there are about 2 dozen. Most have been maintained and are quite elegant with the high arching glass roofs, mosaic floors and cast iron gates.