Opera Garnier

During the Patrimony Days, which where this past weekend as I mentioned on my previous post, after visiting the Hotel de Ville, I went to the Opera Garnier. The Opera is open to the public, but this day it was open free of charge, so I decided it might be a good day to give it a visit.
The Building of the Opera, took 15 years to be built, and it was finished in 1871. Its construction was ordered by Napoleon III.

     

The auditorium was closed due to servicing, but here is a scale model of how the inside looks.

As you go in there is a waiting area in between where you purchase the tickets and the actual entrance to the staircase.

      

One of the main features of the Opera Garnier, is its Grand Staircase made of marble, that leads to the various levels of the auditorium.

     

     

The foyers in the different levels of the Opera Garnier are also widely known, for its beauty, and wonderful decoration. This foyers are mainly for the audience to walk along during the intervals. To go inside one of this foyers, was amazing, everywhere you look there are so many details to look at, and so fully decorated, you cannot stop looking.

      

View of the ceiling

Exit towards the grand Stairways

At the exit of the Opera, just before you hit the gift shop, there are some impressive statues of important musicians.

Now a days, most of the Operas are not showed here. This remained as the House for ballet spectacles in Paris.

On Saturday I also went to Galleries Lafayette one of the most famous department stores here in Paris. They had a special tour about the history of the building, the different stages it went through to be the huge store it is today. They are mentioned a bit of the history of the famous dome that characterizes this store. I didn't take pictures, since my camera was about death. I only got to take pictures of a show piece they had at the terrace made only by Rubik Cubes, which I thought was pretty cool.

So that was all for Saturday, by the time I hit home, I was exhausted!!!