Another view from the Arc de Triomphe, this time of the Opéra Garnier (also known as the Palais Garnier), one of two sites that serve as home to the Paris Opera. Built in the 1870s, the building was originally known simply as l'Opéra de Paris. In 1989, it was renamed for its architect, Charles Garnier, to distinguish it from the "new" Opéra Bastille across town.
The Opéra Garnier dominates it's 9th arrondissement neighborhood. Paris, April 2009.
I've never been inside either building, but one day I would enjoy taking a tour of the Palais Garnier. From what I've seen in photos and on television, the interior is spectacular. This was the building haunted by the Phantom of the Opera in Gaston Leroux's original 1910 novel.
Another grand view. That’s an enormous building.
ReplyDeleteWhat is this blue skyscraper in the background of the photo?
ReplyDeleteIs it the”Tour Incity”?
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DeleteI had hoped to take the tour of the Opera Garnier last summer, but that didn't happen. I am sad about that. I often went to the American Express near the Opera on Saturdays to get my mail. I did the same thing in other countries when I traveled. There was also a register where I could see if any friends were in town. It listed where they were staying. Those days were different, but we found ways to connect with our friends.
ReplyDeleteThe American Express has been in Paris, rue Scribe, for ages. I used it too.
DeleteI don't know if I have been inside the Opéra Garnier? If so, it wasn't a big tour, just me popping inside the front doors. I used to go to that area every few weeks, because the American Express building was nearby, on rue Scribe, and I would bring a Travelers Check to cash, to get the pittance of spending money that I allowed for myself :) Geeeeeeeze, how times have changed!
ReplyDeleteThe building is massive! Hope you get a tour of the interior at some point so you can share your photos!
ReplyDeleteThe Opera (Garnier) was built under Napoleon III, as part of the Baron Haussmann remaking of Paris, that included the making of the Avenue de l'Ope'ra. It is not from the 1870s and the Third Republic. Roderick
ReplyDeleteWhen we visited L'Opéra Garnier it was open to everyone and we just wandered around! Fabulous! We did not go downstairs into the seating area, although we could have. We had been upstairs and looked down to get a feeling for being seated in the Mezzanine! Everything about the inside is "over the top" but the stairways and the vistas from going up or down is what I remember as being thrilling. I could imagine during an intermission, what it would be like to descend and see all the fancy clothing and people!
ReplyDeleteoh to attend an opera there! any one of them.
ReplyDeletemitch, it is!
ReplyDeletechm, they're twin towers in Bagnolet, just outside of the périphérique, called Les Tours Mercuriales, built in the mid 1970s.
evelyn, judy, oh yes, the Amex building. I cashed a few travelers' cheques (spelled with a Q!) there back in 81-82. :)
wilma, we shall see!
roderick, yes, construction started in the 1860s, but it was not finished nor used until 1875, because of the war, according to Wikipedia.
mary, very cool!
michael, that would be an experience!
Merci.
ReplyDeleteThe inside is just a bit, well, gaudy. Enough gold to to outshine a certain former US President. Definitely a place for the audience to see and be seen.
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