Opulent AMBIANCE

Ceiling of Palais Garnier, ceiling mural by Marc Chagall, Paris, France

Opened in 1875, the Palais Garnier is one of Paris’s most opulent opera houses.  The Opera, as the building is often called, was used as the setting for Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and subsequent film and musical adaptations. The famous falling chandelier in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is based on an actual event. On May  20, 1896, one of the chandelier’s counterweights burst through the ceiling into the auditorium, killing a member of the audience.  The 7-ton bronze and crystal chandelier was designed by the architect Charles Garnier. The movable Marc Chagall ceiling painting was installed in 1964.

WPC: Ambience