Timeline

Key figures

Origin and history

The Opéra Bastille is a modern opera room located in Place de la Bastille in Paris, designed by Uruguayan-Canadian architect Carlos Ott. Inaugurated on 13 July 1989 for the bicentenary of the French Revolution, it responded to a project launched in 1982 by President François Mitterrand and his Minister of Culture, Jack Lang. The aim was to create a "modern and popular" opera, complementary to the Opéra Garnier, considered too small and technically outdated. The chosen site, the former station of Paris-Bastille (closed in 1969), was demolished in 1984 to give way to the new building, whose construction was part of the "major works" for Paris.

The international architectural competition, launched in 1983, attracted 1,700 candidates. Carlos Ott won the project on November 17, 1983, offering a 160,000 m2 building with a 2,745-seat main hall, among the largest in the world. The facade, made of limestone, was quickly suffering from bad ways: a slab fell in 1990, triggering a state trial against entrepreneurs. After years of controversy, manufacturers were ordered in 2007 to replace 36,000 slabs for 9 million euros.

Inaugurated with a performance by Bob Wilson, Night before the day, in the presence of many heads of state, the Opéra Bastille officially opened its regular performances on 17 March 1990 with Les Troyens de Berlioz. The first years were marked by technical malfunctions, especially in the stage machinery, solved without closing the theatre. In 1994, the establishment merged with the Opéra Garnier to form the Opéra national de Paris, a public industrial and commercial establishment (EPIC).

The main hall, equipped with an ultra-modern stage (45 m high, 9 elevators), and a pit for 130 musicians, was designed for maximum flexibility. Two backstage trays, one to six floors underground, allow complex decor changes. Despite its public success (92% of the building was filled in 2023), the building now suffers from a lack of watertightness, excessive energy consumption, and structural risks. A two-year closure (2030-2032) is planned for work estimated at EUR 400 million.

The financing of Opéra Bastille is based on 48 % public subsidies (€122 million in 2015), the rest coming from ticketing, rentals and sponsorship. Each ticket is subsidized by the State at the rate of 123 euros. The initial cost of construction, equivalent to 784 million euros, reflects the project's ambition, a symbol of a proactive cultural policy under Mitterrand.

Located on a plot of 2.5 hectares in the shape of a quadrilateral, the opera dominates the Place de la Bastille, facing the Column of July. Nearby are the Fifteen-Vingt Hospital, the Arsenal Basin, and the René-Dumont green casting, on the old viaduct of the station. The adjoining building houses a 237-seat studio and the restaurant Les Grandes Marches, the last vestige of the former Silver Tower, which has been present since the demolition of the Bastille fortress.

External links