History, architecture & heritage

An opera house.
A Paris landmark.

The story of the Palais Garnier, from Napoleon III’s new opera house to the home of the Paris Opera Ballet.

The marble Grand Staircase of the Palais Garnier — The Grand Staircase, built for the spectacle of arriving.

A competition and a young architect

Napoleon III wanted a new opera house for a Paris being rebuilt under Baron Haussmann. In 1861 a little-known architect, Charles Garnier, won the design competition.

Carved and gilded details on the main façade of the Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier seen from above, with its roof statues

Fourteen years in the making

Building began in 1861. Groundwater under the site, the Franco-Prussian War and the Commune slowed the work, and the opera house opened on 5 January 1875.

A stage, a ceiling and a phantom

Marc Chagall painted the auditorium’s new ceiling in 1964, and Gaston Leroux set The Phantom of the Opera here in 1910. Since the Opéra Bastille opened in 1989, the Palais Garnier has mainly staged ballet.