When I first saw a photo of Palais Garnier, the opera house in Paris, I was mesmerized by how beautiful it was. Not the outside, but the cascading staircases, elaborately decorated hallways, and modern ceiling inside. It was one of the main reasons (combined with French pastries) that inspired me to add Paris to my trip to Spain. So of course I had take a tour. And I learned some incredible facts about the Paris Opera house during the tour.

5 Incredible Facts About the Paris Opera House

1. Palais Garnier was designed for people-watching.

Once upon a time during intermission at one of my first operas, I stood at the balcony overlooking several levels of cascading staircases beneath me, watching people as I sipped on Champagne. The stranger next to me noticed my fascination and struck up a conversation. And he shared something that has stayed with me ever since. He said all opera houses are designed for people-watching because opera used to be as much about the music as it was a popularity contest among the aristocratic people who could afford to attend. The winding staircases and balconies allowed people to see and be seen — the most important factor of the night.

The tour guide at the Paris Opera house confirmed what that man had told me years ago: Palais Garnier was designed for people watching. In fact, that was the inspiration behind the grand staircase. The several stories of balconies and open staircases beg you to gaze down at those below you — or across from you. And the stairs themselves are really shallow, designed to prevent women from showing their — gasp! — ankles when walking up them.

2. The opera house is surrounded by banks. That’s because…

…All those fancy rich people who attended the opera with the intention to see and be seen decked themselves out with all their jewels, which they picked up from their bank vaults on their way there. Several banks knowingly opened nearby and stayed open until the opera was over so the jewels could be put away immediately after the curtain fell.

While numerous banks still surround the opera house today, they are no longer open so late.

3. The top tier is called the Chicken Coup and has no visibility of the stage. But that didn’t matter because…

The top tier was primarily reserved for middle class people. But they didn’t come to see the opera, they came to see the rich people at the opera. Back then, the house lights stayed on throughout the entire performance so that people could people-watch during the opera. The middle class people couldn’t afford to dine at the lavish Palais Garnier, so they brought food with them. When they saw someone famous they didn’t like, they threw spoiled food at them from the top tier. Eventually, vendors selling rotten tomatoes and apples gathered outside the opera house for this very purpose.

As you can imagine, the aristocratic people weren’t very pleased about this (can you imagine being hit with a rotten apple?!). So the Palais Garnier put chicken wire around the top tier to catch thrown objects, hence the tier’s nickname “the chicken coup.” Today the chicken wire is gone but the visibility from the top tier is still minimal, so if you’re planning to see an opera make sure you check the stage view from the seats before purchasing!

4. The basement of the opera house is flooded. And that inspired the famous book and musical…

…the Phantom of the Opera. The site for the Palais Garnier was picked for its proximity to the center of Paris, but when construction began in 1861 workers discovered the ground was a swampy lake that continuously flooded the site. It took eight months to drain but the water kept returning. After construction began and several attempts to pump out the water failed, architect Charles Garnier created a huge tank to store the water and used it to add stability the massive building.

The “underground lake” and its surrounding cellars inspired Gaston Leroux to write the Phantom of the Opera in 1910. He even mentioned in his book when the huge chandelier came crashing down from the ceiling causing the death of a worker. (Yes, that part is true!)

5. Half of the opera house is elaborately decorated, while the other half is plain. That’s because…

… Construction started for the Palais Garnier while Napoleon was emperor. Designed for an emperor, it was decorated in what was known as Napoleon III style, which pretty much means no surface was left undecorated. (See the elaborate hallway above!) But before the opera house could be completed, the Franco-Prussian war broke out and Napoleon fell from power.

Architects could barely afford to complete the opera house, let alone afford the elaborate decorations. So the rest of the opera house is strikingly plain. It’s such a stark contrast to the rest of the opera!

Touring the Paris Opera House

The Palais Garnier is one of the most stunning buildings I’ve ever been inside. Today, it’s mostly home to the ballet while the opera performs at the Opéra Bastille (with better stage visibility). I highly recommend seeing a performance there but if not, take a tour of the Palais Garnier. I recommend this guided tour, this after-hours tour or one that includes the Galleries Lafayette Private Tour.

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Related :: Six days of beauty in Paris, 5 Incredible Facts About the Vienna Opera House, and more Opera House tours. 

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Editor’s Note: this article was original published July 2014. It was updated May 2017 and January 2020.