Opera Garnier

- Opera Garnier -

The Opera Garnier is a spectacular and ornate building, close to the Galeries Lafayette and the Magasins du Printemps. My favourite dancer of all time Rudolf Nureyev was the director of the Paris Ballet from 1983 - 1989 here. You'll notice a picture of him on the left. It was in this building that he made his last performance in La Bayadere. Ironically this was also where he made his first performance in the West and was where he took refuge after defecting from the Soviet Union in 1961. He died in 1993 and he is buried outside Paris in St Genevieve du Bois.

This is a close up of one of the sculptures at the front of the Opera. It is called 'La danse' and was made by Jean Baptiste Carpeaux. You can find much of Carpeaux's work in the Musee d'Orsay where there's also information about the construction and architecture of the Opera.

Here is a close up picture of one of the sculptures located at the top of the Opera.