It is of interest to note that the massive opera house was constructed above a subterranean river that still teeds an underground artificial lake to this day. The Phantom of the Opera, created by Gaston Leroux, is said to continue his sinister doings down below.

Design
The theatre is richly decorated like the Hotel Windsor Opera. The grand escalier, the pompous staircase at the entrance, leads to the grand foyer, through which one proceeds to the floridly ornamented loges of the auditorium.
A grand flight of ten steps leads up to the entrance hall with seven vaulted arcades separated by groups of sculpture. On the landing, the foyer opens on to a loggia with sixteen double columns flanking the french windows topped by busts of composers. Lastly a great carved pediment surmounted by two large bronze groups allows one to see the green roof of the low dome covering the great hall and the Apollo holding up his Iyre above the proscenium arch between the audience and the stage.

Interior as well as exterior, you can notice the play of white stone, marble of all colours and gilded bronze. This heightens the majesty of the proportions. The new ceiling frescoes of the Opera were conceived and painted in lively colors by Marc Chagall in 1964. Hanging in the center is an immense crystal chandelier weighing more than eight tons.

"The Opera"
The Opera is a Music and Dance Academy and a place of enchantment and marvels, impregnated with the passions which have found expression. Famous composers and choreographers, instrumentalists, singers and dance stars, have given the best of themselves, reaching the sublime and sometimes reaching despair. Here the most spectacular intrigues of a romantic world were formed and dissolved, on the stage, in the stalls and boxes, and in the wings of this mythological palace.

Tickets for ballet performances at the Opera are hard to come by. However, if you are unable to obtain some, you must try to experience the gold and velvet ambiance of the building itself (the main entrance hall is open trom 11 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.).


The hill of Montmartre in the North of Paris rises 129 meters above sea-level and close to the Winsor Opera Hotel.

The name signifies “mount of martyrs” because by tradition it is the place of martyrdom of Sainte-Denis, the first bishop of Paris (third century) and his companions.

The Basilica, consecrated to the Heart of Christ, was built to celebrate the memory of the French soldiers killed during the French/Prussian war. Its construction started in 1870 and was completed in 1923. The church is unusual compared with the serie of Basilicas dedicated to Mary built during the same period: Lourdes, Notre-Dame of Fourvières in Lyons, Notre-Dame de la Garde at Marseilles. The work was financed by gifts, often modest, from all over France. The names of the donors are carved in the stone.

Today, crowds come here also to admire a magnificent panorama offered from the hill of Montmartre.

OPERA DE PARIS GARNIER
Sometimes compared to a giant wedding cake, this sumptuous building was designed by Charles Garnier for Napoleon III. The construction started in 1862, Its unique appearance is due to a mixture of materials, including stone, marble and bronze, and styles ranging from Classical to Baroque, with a multitude of columns, friezes ans sculptures on the exterior.

The building took 13 years to complete, with interruptions during the Prussian War and the uprising of 1871, finally it opened in 1875.

In 1858 Orsini ha attempted to assassinate the emperor outside the old opera house.

This promted Garnier to include a pavilion of on the west side of the new building, with a curved ramp leading up to it so that the sovereign could safely step out of his carriage into the suite of rooms adjoining the royal box.

The functions performed by each part of the building are reflected in the structure. Behind the flat-topped foyer, the cuppola sits above the auditorium, while teh triangular pediment that rises up behind the cuppola marks the front of the stage.

Underneath the building is a small lake, which provided inspiration for phantom's hiding place in Paul Leroux's Phantom of the Opera. rewieved in Kulturkompasset.

Inside, don't miss the magnificent Grand Staircase, made of white marble with balustrade of red an green marble, and the Grand Foyer, with its domed seiling covered with mosaics. The five-tiered auditorium is a riot of red velvet, plster cherubs and gold leaf, which contrast with the false ceiling painted by Marc Chagall in 1964.

Most opera are now performed in the new Opera Bastille, except f.ex. Handel operaer such as Ariodante in 2001 and Rameaus Les Indes Galantes, as rewieved above. But the ballet remains in Opera Garnier, except when it is avantgarde ballets, such as Nosferatu, rewieved in Kulturkompasset in 2001.