Opera - A Beautiful Opera House
dazza walker
The Paris Opera House has to be undoubtedly one of the best examples of beautiful architecture of its time, and was founded by King Louis XIV. The creative design of this beauty was down to a young architect called Charles Garnier, which makes the building all the more creditable when you consider he was only 35 years old.
The building began in 1861, but due to the fact that the land was marshland with a very high water table the construction lasted for 14 years. To give an example of how marshy it was the site was pumped constantly for over 8 months just to be able to put in the base, so as you can imagine any beauty it shows off today was not without its sweat and labour.
In January 1875 the Paris Opera House, or Palais Garnier as it's officially known, was opened with a performance of La Juive. The inside of the opera house is ornately filled with many luxuries. Everywhere you look is gold leaf and velvet. There are cherubs everywhere as well as a chandelier that is an amazing six tonnes in weight. The Palais Granier is almost 12000 square feet and has seats for more than 2000 guests. To give an idea of the size of the stage it is capable of holding four hundred performers so, considering a construction that is over one hundred and thirty years old, boasts some pretty impressive statistics.
The result of all this painstaking commitment is a masterpiece in beauty, style and architecture. The details for everything in the opera house is delightful right down to the foyers, hallways and even the steps. Garnier was, believe it or not, critisized for being too ornate. You would have to agree that there are worse complaints to have aimed at you. The truth is that this is part of its appeal, its splendor and its luxury. If you can't be ornate in Paris then where can you. That what makes Paris the city it is and the Palais Garnier fits into the grand scheme of things perfectly.
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