Roofs and domes, Palais Garnier

The large central dome is covered with copper, which, once oxidized, takes on a greenish color. In the past, the domes of the two pavilions were also covered with copper, but today they are made of zinc, like the other roofs of the building. Some decorations of the domes covering the two side pavilions are made of lead.

The facade is surmounted by the Fame, two groups made by Charles Gumery, Harmony (left) and Poetry (right) These gilded bronze statues, a height of 7.50 meters, were restored, and their internal structure, made of iron, has been replaced by stainless steel. Their original gilding was done by electroplating in the workshops of the goldsmith Christofle. The entablature of the attic is crowned with a cast iron frieze with a golden varnish, a succession of alternating masks of garlands, work of the sculptor Jean-Baptiste-Jules Klagmann. The pediment of the stage cage is decorated with two acroteres (east and west) identical,La Renommée retains Pegasus (by Eugène-Louis Lequesne), while the summit receives the ensemble formed by Apollo crowning Poetry and Music, by Aimé Millet. This group, weighing thirteen tons, acts as a lightning rod; it is in natural bronze, only the lyre is gilded. The whole, 7,50 meters high, was carved directly on the site by Millet, then melted in bronze in 1869 by the workshop Denière, and finally assembled at the top of the Opera in 1870.

Main façade
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. They are both made of gilt copper electrotype.

Stage flytower
The sculptural group Apollo, Poetry, and Music, located at the apex of the south gable of the stage flytower, is the work of Aimé Millet, and the two smaller bronze Pegasus figures at either end of the south gable are by Eugène-Louis Lequesne.

Palais Garnier
The Opera Garnier, or Palace Garnier, is a national theater and lyrical choreography vocation and a major element of heritage 9 th arrondissement of Paris and the capital. It is located Place de l’Opera, at the north end of the Avenue de l’Opera and at the crossroads of many roads. It is accessible by metro (Opera station), by the RER (line A, Auber station) and by bus. The building stands out as a monument particularly representative of eclectic architectureand historicist style of the second half of the xix th century. On a conception of the architect Charles Garnier retained following a competition, its construction, decided by Napoleon III as part of the transformations of Paris conducted by the prefect Haussmann and interrupted by the war of 1870, was resumed at the beginning of the Third Republic, after the destruction by fire of the opera Le Peletier in 1873. The building is inaugurated on January 5, 1875by President MacMahon in the third Republic.

Designed by the architect Charles Garnier in 1875, the Palais Garnier houses a prestigious auditorium and public spaces (grand foyer, rotunda of subscribers, salons), a library-museum as well as several rehearsal studios and workshops.

The “Italian style” theater, whose ceiling was painted by Marc Chagall in 1964, can accommodate 2054 spectators. With nearly 480,000 visitors a year, it is one of the most visited monuments in Paris. It is classified as a historical monument since 1923.

This opera was called “Paris Opera” until 1989, when the opening of the Opera Bastille, also opera in Paris, influenced its name. It is now designated by the only name of its architect: “Opera Garnier” or “Palais Garnier”. The two operas are now grouped together in the public industrial and commercial establishment “Opéra national de Paris”, a French public institution whose mission is to implement the performance of lyric or ballet performances, of high quality. artistic. The opera Garnier has been classified as a historical monument since October 16, 1923.