The Construction of the Paris Opera:
"This exhibition, the second installment of the collaborative series of organized jointly by ICP and the George Eastman House, presents selections from an early landmark of documentary photography: the stunning visual record of the construction of the Paris Opera carried out by the firm Delmaet & Durandelle between 1864 and 1869. These large-format albumen prints enable the viewer to follow the progress of architect Charles Garnier's lavish Opera, one of the most spectacular buildings of the nineteenth century. Remarkable for their wealth of informational detail, the photographs are a milestone in the use of the medium for extended architectural documentation. They also provide a crucial stylistic link between the work of earlier French urban photographers, such as Charles Marville and Edouard Baldus, and the later photographs of Eugene Atget.
Initiated as part of the sweeping renovation of central Paris begun by Baron Georges-Eugene Haussmann in the 1850s, the Opera was meant to showcase the wealth and power of Napoleon III's Second Empire. Public interest in the project was kindled when the design competition was won in 1861 by a relatively unknown young architect of humble social background, Charles Garnier (1825-98). Garnier drew up plans for an immense, flamboyant structure covering three acres and spanning 17 stories, seven of them underground. He conceived the Opera as a total work of art--a space for the ultimate encounter of architecture, sculpture, painting, music and dance. Over 90 prominent painters and sculptors eventually contributed to its lavish decoration program.
Excavation of the site in the Parisian ninth arrondissement began in late 1861. Construction was an enormously complicated affair, involving teams of stone masons, carpenters, ironworkers, roofers, plumbers, glazers and mosaicists. The building's vast outer shell was virtually complete by 1869, but further work was postponed by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, which ended with the fall of the Second Empire and the emperor's humiliating abdication. Although the Opera was widely associated with the ill fortunes of Napoleon III's reign, Garnier succeeded in convincing the new leaders of the Third Republic that it was an important symbol of the nation's cultural heritage and should be completed without delay. The building opened to the public in January 1875 and has continued to be a Parisian landmark.
Garnier's Opera occupies a significant place in architectural history because of its unusual combination of classical and newly introduced industrial elements. Structurally, the building is a composite of traditional masonry walls and a technically innovative framework of iron girders. Yet although Garnier was quick to grasp the practical utility of such modern inventions as structural iron and electric lighting, he was unable to shed the conservative esthetic of his Beaux-Arts training. Judging metal materials to be useful but visually distasteful, he insisted that the Opera's iron framework be hidden behind a facade of opulent marble and hand-carved stone ornamentation. Today, one of our chief sources of information about the remarkable technological underpinnings of the Opera is the extensive series of photographs of the building's construction that Garnier commissioned from the Paris firm Delmaet & Durandelle.
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Built between 1862 and 1875 by Charles Garnier, the Paris opera is a baroque example of neoclassicism: It has an ornamented facade, monumental stairs and Italian type hall with Chagall paintings on the ceiling. Maria Callas and Rudolf Noureev are among the many artists who wrote its history as one of the world foremost scenic stages for opera and ballet alike. Since the opening of the Opéra Bastille in 1989, the Opéra Garnier is devoted to ballets..
Construction started in 1861 and lasted for 14 years. The massive works were slowed down by the discovery of a water table that had to be drained before building an enormous concrete well designed to carry the gigantic stage and fly tower. The well was filled with water in order to counter the water pressure (hence the legend of the underground lake popularized by Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera). The 1870 Franco-Prussian war and the Commune interrupted the construction works, but the fire at the old opera in the Rue Le Peletier in 1873 hastened the completion of the monument. It was officially inaugurated during the Third Republic by Field Marshall de Mac-Mahon on 5 January 1875.
The building, which is a perfect example of 19th century stage architecture, hides its iron frame under flamboyant decoration. The overall impression is harmonious in spite of the diversity of its inspiration and the temes taken up by Charles Garnier. He personally supervised the integration in the architecture of decorative works entrusted to sculptors, painters and mosaic artists representative, as himself was, of state-sponsored artists.
From 1881 down to the present day, several restoration and modernization programmes have made the theatre increasingly functional without lessening its appeal as a monument: technical progress and the evolution of sets under the influence of "verism". The next step was the building of a modern and popular opera house: Opera Bastille.
Adress
Opera Garnier : Place de l'Opera, Paris 9e
Opera Bastille : Place de la Bastille Pari,s 12e
Hotel Baudelaire Opera :
61 rue Sainte-Anne 75002 PARIS
How to get there
Opera Garnier : Metro line 3, 7 or 8 : Opera - RER A : Auber
Opera Bastille : Metro line 1, 5 or 8 : Bastille
Place Vendôme is in Paris along the Champs-Elysées and close to the Hotel Baudelaire Opera. During the French Revolution it was known as Pikes' square due to the fact that aristrocrats' heads were cut off and carried around on pikes. In 1685 Louis XIV decided to build a square because he thought that Paris lacked a public place.The square was named after the Duke of Vendôme.Side tracked by the war, Louis sold the real estate to the city of Paris. The city of Paris couldn't keep up with the project it fell to pieces.Much later John Law eventually bought back more than half the square. He began to build it up and make it work.
Louis XIV's statue was originally in the square but it was torn down and melted down later. Later the Vendôme Column was erected in its place. The column was considered an imperial symbol. It was to celebrate the glory of French soldiers. It was built from the bronze of 1200 cannons taken from Austrians and Russians. Russia at one point wanted to knock it down but only managed to pull the statue off the top and melt it down.The column is still standing today though the statue is gone.
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