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Palais Garnier

Cultural and Institutional Buildings

The Palais Garnier stands on the Place de l'Opera in Paris, designed by the young architect Charles Garnier, who won a competition against dozens of other entrants, and completed in 1875 as the home of the Paris Opera under the urban renewal program of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann. Its lavish Beaux-Arts facade and interiors, including a grand marble staircase and a mirrored, gilded ceremonial foyer, were intended as much for the display of Parisian high society as for opera and ballet performances themselves. Its auditorium ceiling was repainted in 1964 by the artist Marc Chagall with scenes from well known operas and ballets, installed on a removable panel above the original ceiling so that Garnier's own work was preserved beneath it. The building's substructure includes an underground reservoir of water, which contributed to the legend behind Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera.

Facts
Building Type
Opera House 1
Location
Place de l'Opéra, Paris, France 1
Completed Year
1861 2
Completed Year
1862 2
Completed Year
1875 1
Partially Attested
Height (m)
32 1
32 m is the facade height; the stage flytower apex reaches 56 m.
Classification
Standing Status
Standing 1
Building Type
Building Type (category)
House 1
Connections

Has Building Type

House, Concepts

Entity-backed identity for the building-type enum value this building already carries, resolved to an architecture concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The building-type fact itself stays on the building unchanged.

In Style

Source Palais Garnier, Wikipedia
Source Palais Garnier, Wikipedia
Source Palais Garnier, Wikipedia

Uses Element

Source Palais Garnier, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases
Sources
1. Palais Garnier, Wikipedia
  • Lead section, first sentence
    is a historic 1,979-seat opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France.
  • Infobox, address
    Place de l'Opéra 75009 Paris France
  • Infobox, opening date
    Opened 5 January 1875
  • Architecture, dimensions
    32 metres (105 ft) to the top of the façade.
  • Entity description and the lead/infobox of the Wikipedia article
    The Palais Garnier stands on the Place de l'Opera in Paris, designed by the young architect Charles Garnier, who won a competition against dozens of other entrants, and completed in 1875 as the home of the Paris Opera under the urban renewal program of Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann. Its lavish Beaux-Arts facade and interiors, including a grand marble staircase and a mirrored, gilded ceremonial foyer, were intended as much for the display of Parisian high society as for opera and ballet performances themselves. Its auditorium ceiling was repainted in 1964 by the artist Marc Chagall with scenes from well known operas and ballets, installed on a removable panel above the original ceiling so that Garnier's own work was preserved beneath it. The building's substructure includes an underground reservoir of water, which contributed to the legend behind Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera.
  • In Style: Baroque Revival Architecture, Wikipedia categories
    Category:Baroque Revival architecture in France
  • In Style: Second Empire Architecture, Wikipedia categories
    Category:Second Empire architecture
  • In Style: Beaux-Arts Architecture, Wikipedia categories
    Category:Beaux-Arts architecture in France
  • Uses Element: Masonry, Wikipedia article
    The structural system is made of masonry walls; concealed iron floors, vaults, and roofs.
View the Source
2. Wikidata: Palais Garnier
  • Wikidata Q187840, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
  • Wikidata Q187840, P571 claim (w-bbfill-artsarchag-0926)
View the Source
Frequently Asked Questions

Why does the ceiling of the Palais Garnier look different from the rest of the building?

In 1964 the artist Marc Chagall painted a new ceiling for the auditorium, installed on a removable frame over the original so it does not replace it.

The auditorium ceiling at the Palais Garnier was originally painted by Jules-Eugene Lenepveu as part of Charles Garnier's design. In 1964 a new ceiling painted by Marc Chagall was installed on a removable frame over the original, so Chagall's brightly colored scenes from well known operas and ballets sit above, rather than replacing, Garnier's nineteenth century decoration.
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