The Paris Opera House Company: Opera, Ballet and Two Theatres
The building is the visible half of an institution founded by Louis XIV and still running. This page is about the other half: what the company is, what it stages, where it stages it, and what changes for a visitor on a day when it is working. Paris Opera Garnier tours get you into the building; a performance ticket is a different purchase entirely.
Two theatres, one company
The Opéra national de Paris runs two houses on opposite sides of the city and they do different jobs.
| Palais Garnier | Opéra Bastille | |
|---|---|---|
| Opened | 5 January 1875 | 13 July 1989 |
| Architect | Charles Garnier | Carlos Ott |
| Capacity | 2,101 | 2,745 |
| Mostly stages | Ballet, and a share of the opera repertoire | Large-scale opera |
| Open for daytime visits | Yes, most days | Guided tours only |
| What you come for | The building | The performance |
Founded in 1669, and never closed since
Louis XIV granted letters patent on 28 June 1669 creating the Académie royale de Musique. The company that holds them has changed its name repeatedly, moved house at least a dozen times, survived a revolution, two empires and five republics, and has been performing continuously for over three and a half centuries. The Palais Garnier is the thirteenth home it has had.
The Paris Opera Ballet, and the school behind it
The ballet joined the Academy at its founding, which makes the Paris Opera Ballet the oldest professional dance company in Europe. Louis XIV's decree of 1713 created the school that still feeds it, and most of the 154 dancers in the company today came up through it.
This matters to a visitor for a practical reason: the ballet rehearses here, in this building, and rehearsal is the single most common reason a room is shut when you arrive. The company is not a historical footnote. It is the reason the doors close.
What is staged where, and why
Since the Bastille opened, most large-scale opera has gone there, where the stage machinery and the 2,745 seats suit it. The Palais Garnier keeps the ballet and a share of the operatic repertoire, particularly work that fits a nineteenth-century horseshoe better than a modern hall.
The practical consequence is that the building you visit in the afternoon is often being set for a ballet in the evening. That is why the auditorium is the room nobody promises you and why visitor information puts that at the top rather than in the small print.
A visit and a performance are two different tickets
| A daytime visit | A performance | |
|---|---|---|
| What it opens | The staircase, the foyers, the salons and the Library-Museum | One seat in the auditorium, that evening |
| Where you buy it | The Opera's own site, or inside a guided fare | The Opera's own box office and site |
| Adult price | €25 outside the EEA, €15 inside it | Set per production and per seat |
| Which door | The corner of Rue Scribe and Rue Auber | Place de l'Opéra, 75009 Paris |
| Guided version | Yes, through independent operators | None |
| Auditorium | Not guaranteed | That is what you bought |
What happens to a visit when a performance is on
An evening performance changes nothing for a daytime visitor: the building opens at ten and closes at five or six as usual. A daytime performance is different and closes the building to visits altogether, and those days are published on the Opera's own calendar along with its other closure days. It also shuts on 1 January, 1 May and 25 December.
Rehearsals are the other case, and they are unannounced. Nothing is published, nothing is refunded, and the rest of the visit runs as normal.
Frequently asked questions
Can I watch a rehearsal?
Is the ballet at the Garnier or the Bastille?
Do the guided tours include a performance?
See the building itself
Guided tours from ninety minutes, and the self-guided ticket, all with what the fare covers set out.
Paris Opera House Tours compares them, and the history page covers how this particular house came to be built at all.