About this experience
Opéra Garnier (or Palais Garnier) is a Parisian icon. For locals, this opulent opera and ballet house is as much a part of the cultural fabric of the city as Notre Dame, the Louvre, or the Eiffel Tower. To everyone else, it's the setting for _The Phantom of the Opera_.
A marble imperial staircase to a Grand Foyer, make like the aristocratic guests of yesteryear.
Charles Garnier designed the opera house for Emperor Napoleon III, but construction was held up by unusually high groundwater levels. As a solution, a series of cisterns were built to redistribute the water. This led to speculation of an eerie subterranean lake under the opera house.
Tourists aren't allowed into the waterways of the Phantom's lair, but considering how it turned out in Leroux's novel, maybe that's for the best. However, there are still many nooks and crannies to explore in one of the world's largest opera houses.
