Until 1989, this opera house was simply called « Opera de Paris » but, since the inauguration of the new opera house at the Bastille (very originally called « Opera Bastille »), this opera house is now being referred to as « Opera Garnier » or « Palais Garnier ». Exactly 100 years after Gustave Eiffel gave his name to his famous tower, Garnier became the second person whose family name was linked to a Paris monument. Eiffel was even « luckier » because he pulled this off during his own lifetime (even though his tower had been scheduled to be dismantled after the 1889's fair!).

Strange relationship that Garnier (1825-1898) and Eiffel (1832-1923) had. Garnier used Eiffel’s precious help for the construction of his Opera as, even though nobody could guess it at first sight, the whole Structure of the opera is made of iron and it was later dressed in marble, mosaics and gold everywhere… And this was almost 30 years before the Eiffel Tower! And it was also built 20 years before the Home Insurance Building in Chicago!

The horizontal metal spider-web is the auditorium's floor. Even though we can't imagine today (if we are not told) that the whole structure is made of metal, people in those days didn't know either as Garnier carefully concealed the metal from public view!

The thing is that Garnier believed that « iron is a means, it will never be a principle ». Even though Garnier’s Opera is a masterpiece, Eiffel proved the contrary…

Garnier and Eiffel worked together again in 1878 for the construction of the Mont-Gros Observatory of Nice but, get ready for this: in February 1887, as the construction of the Eiffel tower had barely started, as Garnier was against the idea of showing just the metallic structure of a building, he signed (together with Maupassant, Zola, Alexandre Dumas son…) the petition AGAINST the construction of the Eiffel Tower which stated that the tower would be so ugly that « even commercial America wouldn’t want it »!

Eiffel apparently wasn’t resentful because they worked together again for the third time in 1895 in order to build the warehouses to store the stage-sets for the Opera performances at the North limit of Paris (not far from the biggest flea market in the world) which have been used as such up to this day!

Eiffel by Nadar in 1888.

Eiffel returned the photograph to Nadar, asking him to make touch-ups as he (rightly) thought that he looked inappropriately sad...

Garnier by Nadar in 1887.

He definitely found what he was looking for. (Doesn't he look so cool

with his hands in his pockets? )