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Building and Decorating the Opera House

From October 14th, 2025 to January 18th, 2026

Louis-Emile Durandelle
*Masques du vestibule du contrôle de l'Opéra*, 1875
Musée d'Orsay
Don Alain Paviot, par l'intermédiaire de la société des Amis du musée d'Orsay, 1994
© Musée d’Orsay, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / Patrice Schmidt

In 2025, Charles Garnier’s New Opera House is celebrating its 150th birthday. Inaugurated in 1875, this emblem of the Second Empire, completed under the Third Republic, testifies to the genius of Garnier, who had each stage of its construction immortalized by the photographers Delmaet and Durandelle.

2025 marks the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of Charles Garnier’s New Opera House on January 5, 1875. This major Second Empire edifice was completed under the Third Republic following almost fifteen years of work.

Wishing to have the implementation of his first major project fully documented, the brilliant young architect Charles Garnier commissioned the photographers Delmaet and Durandelle to take several series of photos illustrating the progress of the structural work as well as the creation of the many sculpted features composing the Opera House’s rich decoration.