TravelWorld International Magazine Winter 2022

he kids in our party are less
awed by the silent beauty
of Sainte-Chapelle than are
the adults. The kids want action.
They ask about Le Fantôme de
l'Opéra. I tell them he lives at, or
actually in, the cistern under the
Opera at the Palais Garnier, a few blocks
northwest of the city center. And yes, the
main chandelier, or more precisely parts of
it, did fall and panic the opera’s audience,
killing one patron and injuring several
more. That is all certain little inquiring
minds needed to hear to make a visit
mandatory.
Garnier exquisite and balanced detail set the
standard in the Second Empire
The auditorium floor seats with
tiered boxes for VIP guests
The Palais Garnier was designed and built
for the old Paris Opera. In 1860, Jean-Louis
Charles Garnier, a relatively inexperienced
architect, shocked the Parisian design
community when he won the design
competition for the new Paris Opera at
the tender age of 35. His intensely baroque
design was completed and opened in 1875,
revealing sweeping interiors and beautifully
balanced, punctuated design elements.
The building became the showpiece of the
Second Empire. Perhaps more important
than the music performed there, it was
the place for the rich and powerful to see
and be seen at the close of the Nineteenth
Century. Then, as now, the special sparkle
of Paris glitters here in magnificent display.
And as is the custom, for the performance
to begin this evening, Box 5 will be vacant,
it being reserved specially for Le Fantôme.
The ostentatious salon where Paris high
society gathered for drinks and dinner
Looking into the blue dome is like looking into a
sky full of stars, and perhaps a sleigh
Sweeping expanses of marble take patrons from the
grand entrance to the boxes and the main stage
Le Fantome enjoyed the opera
each night from this box.
A private dining room reserved
for high roller patrons
A beautiful fantasy, a flying Christmas tree amid
galleries of Christmas cheer.
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