Paris: Palais Garnier

Paris: Palais Garnier

When visiting New York last year, I developed a new passion: musicals. In the space of a week I saw Chicago, Les Miserables, Spamalot, Rent, and, of course, The Phantom of the Opera. I became fascinated with the story: I have read the book in English (and, kind of, in French); I have four or five filmed versions on DVD; and I went to Melbourne to see the Australian performance. So, the Palais Garnier – the Parisien opera house where the story is set – was high on my to-do list when I arrived in Paris.

Funnily enough, our tour guide was a young French version of Andrew Lloyd Webber – skinny, with thin eyebrows, mascara and a bizarre accent. I had researched the building for a French assignment, so I was fairly familiar with it; we saw Le Grand Escalier (as also seen in Marie Antoinette), the Ice-Lickers (!) foyer and bar, and the auditorium. However, what I (and many other visitors) really wished to see where the underground lake and the incredible backstage.

It was the home of opera in Paris from the 1870’s until the late 1980’s, when a monstrosity was built at Bastille. As you can see above, it is B I G. It swallows an entire block – however, only a fraction of that is taken up by the actual auditorium. To get an idea of what I mean, look at a model of the building (on display, apparently, at the Musee d’Orsay):

Compare the T I N Y auditorium, in the middle (red and gold) with the size of the stage: the stage area is as deep, and three times as high as the auditorium. A lot of space is taken up by the Grand Escalier, and the ‘intermission’ halls (the ‘Ice Lickers’ bar and foyer). The ‘lake’ is apparently under the stage. I’ve seen photos of the area, but it is closed, even to performers and technicians.

Tourists don’t enter from the main entrance (above); they go around the side, and enter via the ‘Subscribers Entrance’ – the private entrance of the rich.

Of course, I took an incredibly huge amount of photos on the inside. They have a yellow cast due to the light. The Subscribers Lounge is directly underneath the auditorium.

Subscribers Lounge

The Grand Escalier

From the Subscribers Lounge, we moved to the Grand Escalier, a very famous staircase. It is the foyer of the opera house, a place where the 19th century aristocracy went to see and be seen. It has been used in several films (especially adaptations of Phantom of the Opera), most recently Marie Antoinette (a little ironic, as she was very much beheaded before the Palais Garnier was built).

Seriously. But there is more to come.

The Auditorium

The opera house was commissioned after the bloody revolutions, by Napoleon III apparently, so the use of ‘Royal Blue’ (as was traditional in auditoriums back then) was out; so Eugienie, his wife, demanded an Italian style red and gold auditorium. This is the opera house which makes the Princess Theatre back in Melbourne look like the Festival Centre in terms of beauty.

Did I say the Palais Garnier was big? Well, remember how tiny the auditorium is in comparison to the rest of the opera house, and then look at the size of the auditorium in this pic. Damn.

I can assure you it is as opulent and well kept as it seems – apparently it underwent a major restoration a few years ago. But everything is still original.

This is the famous chandelier, which is still the original. It started out as a gas-light, and was converted to electricity in the 30s, I believe. The painting around the chandelier is from the 1970’s. Sorry, didn’t like it. Apparently noone else does either. This photo doesn’t show the scale of the thing – again, compare with the Wikipedia image above.

(the box in the bottom left is the infamous ‘Box 5′ from the Gaston Leroux story).

The ‘Ice Lickers’ Foyer and Bar

This refers to the bar for intermission. I forget the French name, but ‘ice licker’ is the unfortunate translation, according to my Lloyd-Webber-esque guide.

These rooms – a circular bar, a long palisade, and a large foyer – can be seen to the left of the grand escalier in the model picture above. Huge, of course. And ridiculously opulent. I haven’t seen such overdone opulence since visiting Potsdam (near Berlin – the palaces at Potsdam aren’t much older than the Palais Garnier).

This foyer runs across the front (southern side, as seen in the photos with Astro Boy). It can be seen to the right in the model cutaway above. It is magnificient.

And that was the last I saw.

I really did want to see the incredible stage, or the incredible underground vaults. Our guide mentioned them – he said the water is emptied and the vaults cleaned every two years – but they have not been accessible by anyone. The Palais Garnier coordinators should consider an ‘ultimate’ tour: I’d pay well more to see the vaults, the rehearsal spaces, the huge dance room behind the stage, the pulley systems which control the sets. Previously, the opera house housed the opera: dancers, stars, technicians, artists all lived within it’s walls (!). With the tour you only see a tiny percentage of the opera: after my research, I would kill to see backstage and learn more about the operation of the theatre. Its history is far more incredible than we saw on the teeny tiny tour.

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