Home of the Paris opera, the Palais Garnier is preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary. Here are five historical anecdotes that have marked this emblematic Parisian monument.
On January 5, 2025, the famous Parisian monument of the Palais Garnier will celebrate its 150th anniversary. Commissioned by Napoleon III, after fourteen years of work carried out by the architect Charles Garnier, the opera was inaugurated with great fanfare on January 5, 1875 by the President of the Republic Mac Mahon, in the presence of 2,000 guests from all over Europe. attend an extraordinary event: the opening of the largest opera in the world.
Because with its 173 meters long and 125 meters wide, the sumptuous monument was then the largest opera house in the world. Its construction cost 36 million gold francs. A look back at five events that marked its history.
Bomb scare in 1858
On January 14, 1858, Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie miraculously escaped a bomb attack as their procession arrived at the opera, at the time located in the narrow rue Le Peletier. Because if the Paris opera has rhymed, for a century and a half, with Palais Garnier, this institution founded in 1669, first wandered from room to room, changing Parisian addresses eleven times in 200 years. The Le Peletier Opera was completely destroyed by a fire in 1873, a disaster which accelerated the completion of the Palais Garnier.
The emperor decided to build a new opera house with clear surroundings to discourage future violent actions. It will be the Opéra Garnier, enthroned alone on its urban island at the end of the vast Avenue de l'Opéra, specially opened by Baron Haussmann at the request of Napoleon III.
One of the first Parisian buildings powered by electricity
On January 5, 1875, the impressive building designed by architect Charles Garnier was inaugurated with pomp. But from 1881, the 340 gas burners of the theater's large chandelier were replaced by electric bulbs. The Opéra Garnier is one of the first Parisian buildings to benefit from a complete electrical installation. The neighboring Avenue de l'Opéra was also the first Parisian artery to experiment with electric public lighting in 1878.
Painters on the balcony
The Paris Opera is not just a place of music and dance. It is also a privileged setting for painters. Edgar Degas spent a good part of his artistic life representing, in hundreds of works, dancers, singers, musicians, fans behind the scenes.
The painter assiduously attended the Opéra Le Peletier then the Opéra Garnier, preferring the relative sobriety of the first to the decorative overload of the second.
The Triumph of Maria Callas
It was at the Paris Opera that Maria Callas triumphed for the first time, on December 19, 1958, with a unique recital broadcast on television, in front of an audience of celebrities including Charlie Chaplin and Brigitte Bardot. In 1964 and 1965, the artist performed again on the Garnier stage.
On February 20, 1965, AFP described the diva's triumph: “Twenty-one encores this evening greeted Maria Callas who played The Tosca for the first time at the Opera. From the orchestra to the amphitheater (…), the applause crackled, the fans chanting his name, while a shower of bouquets continued to fall on the stage.
Rockstar you ballet
Twenty years after his legendary visit to the West at Le Bourget airport, escaping KGB agents while he was on tour, Rudolf Nureyev was appointed director of the Paris Opera ballet in September 1983. by Culture Minister Jack Lang.
For his first season at Garnier, Nureyev chose to stage and dance the famous Russian ballet Raymonda. The Soviet agency Tass praised a show which “enriches the repertoire of Parisian theater” but made no mention of the defector dancer.
Died of AIDS on January 6, 1993, the “ballet rockstar” saw his remains honored in the Garnier grounds, his coffin carried up the monumental staircase by six of his former star dancers.
