Today's post is centred around one particular landmark in Paris - the Opera Garnier, also known as the Palais Garnier (I usually call it the Opera Garnier since it's actually an opera house which was built for performances by the Paris Opera - the principal opera company in Paris, which was established in 1669 during King Louis XIV's reign). The Opera Garnier is situated in a really busy and posh part of Paris - and was right in front of the metro (aptly known as "Opera")...
And here is the facade of the Opera Garnier - the very first look I got of this gorgeous building - as I took the stairs up from the metro. I've also zoomed in - for a closer look of one of the gold sculptures on the roof.
A closer look at the details towards the top of the building - this side featured a number of medallions, plus gold busts of various composers, including Gioachino Rossini, Daniel Auber, Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gaspare Spontini, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Fromental Halevy. There're more busts on the other side of the building - and those were presumably added later. I've featured three of the composers here - Mozart, Meyerbeer and Beethoven. Needless to say - I spotted Beethoven first - he's my favourite of all!
Moved the camera slightly downwards and spotted carvings of more composers! These consisted of Johann Sebastian Bach, Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Franz Joseph Haydn and Domenico Cimarosa - and were so beautifully decorated! I've included a pic of Bach's carving here - all hail Bach!
Sculptures on the side entrance of the Opera Garnier. The rain had stopped for a while so I had to take as many pics as I could before the rain started again.
The trip to Opera Garnier was actually unplanned - and because of the rain, I decided to enter the Opera Garnier (and was prepared to pay of course). So we walked around the building for a bit, and finally got to the main entrance of the building. Along the way - check out these beautiful sculptures! The sculpture in the third picture is of Charles Garnier - the main architect who was responsible for the design and construction of the Opera Garnier.
The ticketing area wasn't very crowded - and we managed to get tickets for really affordable prices. Since I was considered a "youth" (I'm currently below 25 years old), I got my ticket at a lower price! Straightaway after getting my ticket, I took a walk around the ticketing area...it had this massive open area where people could sit around...and admire the ceiling. And yes I mean it. The ceiling was impressive!
Time to tour the Opera Garnier! Before ascending the Grand Staircase, we passed underneath it, and of course I had a really nice time taking pics of these carvings! Look at the amount of effort put into designing, sculpting and maintaining all these! Absolutely intricate and amazing!
As I was going up one of the side staircases, I looked upwards and spotted the famous fresco on the ceiling - which was painted by Isodore Pils. The staircase itself is made of white marble.
Up the Grand Staircase we went - and of course, more photo-taking along the way. Both sides of the staircase were decorated by identical female "torcheres". I decided to go to the second floor first - and then to the third floor where I took most of my pics of the Grand Staircase area.
Entrance to the area outside the main concert hall. The concert hall was closed when we were there - and was scheduled to reopen later in the day. I was more fascinated with the circular arrangement of this area - and the busts situated outside some of the doors. I heard that the concert hall itself is really beautiful too. The chandelier within the concert hall was the inspiration for Gaston Leroux's The Phantom of the Opera - one of the counterweights of the chandelier actually broke and swung through the ceiling. This has been depicted in performances of The Phantom of the Opera - both live and in the 2004 movie adaptation. I've seen both versions.
Back on the Grand Staircase again - and I went straight up to the third floor where I took pics from one of the many balconies...moved around for different perspectives, and it was interesting how my perspective kept changing as I circled around the Grand Staircase area.
Now - imagine people mingling around this area in the 1800s, just before they went up to watch an opera - in the concert hall...I think that would have been quite an experience! The two side staircases on either side of the first staircase led to the Grand Foyer - designed as a drawing room for Parisians.
Photographing this area was such a delight...when I was going through the photos (to decide which one to upload), I really had a tough time deciding!
While circling the Grand Staircase area, I spotted an entrance to the Grand Foyer - another famous part within the Opera Garnier, and this was equally intricate. I also spotted a bust of Camille Saint-Saens behind one of the decorations! I like the Le Cygne movement from his Le Carnaval des Animaux suite - and I'm happy to say I've played the Le Cygne movement in an ensemble before!
The Grand Foyer was absolutely mind-blowing! All I can say is - gold, gold and more gold. Gold chandeliers, gold Corinthian order pillars, gold carvings at the bottom of the pillars...literally everything was in gold! And this made the area look absolutely impressive. I was so fascinated by the details in the Grand Foyer! The ceiling was painted with colourful frescoes to depict different moments in the history of music.
On either end of the Grand Foyer - two outside "loggias" - one is known as Salon du Soleil and the other is known as Salon de la Lune. Here's the entrance to one of the "loggias"...
The two "loggias" are quite similar in terms of colour theme - they both had a mixture of gold and black, and the ceilings were painted with radiating lines. They both had mirrors that gave the impression that they were bigger than they actually were. But there were differences too - the details right in the centre of the ceiling, as well as the design of the "stars" that radiated out from the centre.
This is the Salon du Soleil - with black dragon-like details right in the centre of the ceiling...
And this is the Salon de la Lune - with bats right in the centre of the ceiling.
Ah yes - and I took this "chandelier-ception" picture (with lots of reference to the movie Inception)...in one of the Salons! One of my favourite pictures from my Opera Garnier visit.
Back into another foyer on the side of the Grand Staircase, which was decorated with gorgeous frescoes and mirrors which made it look much bigger and wider than it actually was. Still - it was very beautiful.
Ventured into a corridor which was lit by more gorgeous chandeliers, and with various paintings on the sides. I think this was at the back of the Grand Foyer...and I got through to this area via one of the Salons (I think it was the Salon de la Lune).
I had pretty much covered most of the Opera Garnier areas by the time it was lunchtime, so down the Grand Staircase I went - and I ended up in this corridor - where more composers were featured! The first one I spotted was George Frederic Handel - the eminent English composer who wrote Solomon - one of my favourite oratorios of all time. I've also performed Solomon when I was still in my university choir, but that was back in 2009! I remembered Sally-Anne Russell being one of the soloists in that performance!
Christoph Willibald Gluck, Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Phillippe Rameau were three of the other composers featured alongside Handel. I was actually surprised that Frederic Chopin wasn't featured in the Opera Garnier!
Took pics of these entrances just before going into the souvenir shop. These were closed for the day. The souvenir shop had Rossini playing in the background, and featured a DVD of a live performance of Swan Lake!
This is possibly the longest post of the whole Paris series - but I really had a hard time deciding exactly which pictures to feature! I took so many pictures and actually liked them all...so I had to really sit down and choose the ones I really really liked. Anyway - mission accomplished! In subsequent posts, I'll be featuring the Louvre museum, the G.Pompidou centre and of course, the Eiffel Tower. And more to come after that!