Arts and Culture

Paris Opera says historic stage to close for 2-year renovation

November 3, 2024 | 2:49pm

Paris Opera says historic stage to close for 2-year renovation

People wait at the Palais Garnier on July 13, 2020 in Paris, prior to attend a concert given by the Opera de Paris for sponsors and healthcare workers involved in the fight against the Covid-19 disease caused by the novel coronavirus. The Opera national de Paris will be carrying out renovation work, forcing it to close the Palais Garnier stage from 'mid-2027 to mid-2029' and then the Opera Bastille from 'mid-2030' for at least two years, it told AFP on October 31, 2024.

AFP / Anne-Christine Poujoulat

PARIS, France — The historic opera house of the Paris Opera, the Palais Garnier, is to close its doors from mid-2027 for a two-year renovation, the Opera said on Thursday.

The closure of the almost 150-year-old edifice, one of the architectural jewels of Paris, will be followed by the closure for renovation of the opera's giant newer stage, the Opera Bastille, opened in 1989, for at least two years from mid-2030, it added.

It said the cost of the twin renovations of two of the most iconic sites in European opera and ballet was estimated by France's top state audit body, the Court of Accounts, at at least 200 million euros ($217 million) by 2030, in a report published last week.

This amount is "currently being updated, based on ongoing checks," it said.

The opera said both opera houses needed work to modernize their stage infrastructure.

In a report last week, the Court of Accounts said that both buildings were "aging" and had been the victims of "long-standing underfunding."

The closure schedule means that the Opera should keep one stage open in the French capital during the work, but it also expects to perform elsewhere in France and the city during this period.