What is Paris Opera?
[[File:Palais_Garnier.jpg|thumb|right|300px| Front of the Palais Garnier under winter sun, photography by Eric Pouhier]] '''Paris Opéra''' or the '''Opéra National de Paris''' is the most important [[opera]] company of [[France]]. It stages performances at the [[Opéra Bastille]] and [[Opéra Garnier]] in [[Paris]]. The theatre is also the home of the [[Paris Opéra Ballet]]. Other opera houses in Paris are the [[Théâtre du Châtelet]], [[Opéra-Comique]] and [[Théâtre des Champs-Élysées]]. == History == [[Louis XIV of France|King Louis XIV]] allowed [[Jean-Baptiste Lully]] to start the ''[[Académie Royale de Musique]]'' in 1672. This was an organization that included [[opera]], [[ballet]], and [[music]]. The ballet company was part of the opera company. Then Louis XIV started the ballet school, called ''Académie Royale de Danse'', in 1661. From 1671 until Lully's death in 1687, the school was directed by the great dancing master [[Pierre Beauchamp]], the man who set down the [[five positions of the feet]]. In 1713 King Louis XIV made the Opera company a state institution. There was a group of professional dancers called ''Le Ballet de l'Opéra''. From that time until 1875 they used lots of theatres, each one of which was destroyed by a fire. All these companies were called '''Paris Opéra''' or '''Opéra de Paris'''. On 29 October 1873, the old ''Paris Opéra'', known as the ''[[Théâtre de l'Académie Royale de Musique]]'', which had been used since 1821, was destroyed by a fire which burned for 27 hours. By 1875 the opera company moved to the new ''[[Palais Garnier]]'' which was part of the rebuilding of Paris by [[Napoleon III of France|Emperor Napoleon III]]. When the ''[[Opéra Bastille]]'' was built in 1989 the company chose it as their main theatre. == Other websites == * [http://www.operadeparis.fr/ Official site] {{DEFAULTSORT:Opera National de Paris}} [[Category:Theatres in Paris]]