Palais Garnier Theater

Built during the Second Empire, Palais Garnier (also known as Opéra Garnier) is Paris' classic opera house and one of the city's most magnificent sites.

Designed by Charles Garnier, the building was inaugurated in 1875. Its incredibly ornate exterior is noted for a blue-green copper dome as well as artwork by an army of painters, mosaic experts, and sculptors. Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux's sculpture La Danse – a copy of which is integrated into the façade of the building, as the original is on display at Musée d'Orsay – was famously doused in ink in 1869 by a pedestrian irate at its nude characters.

Palais Garnier's interior is equally opulent, with seating for 1,900, a ceiling painted in 1964 by Chagall, and the seven-ton fear-inducing chandelier depicted in The Phantom of the Opera. The pond hidden under the opera house as depicted in Gaston Leroux's 1911 novel is, surprisingly, not a rumor: when building the structure's foundation, engineers created the reservoir to drain water from the damp earth. It's now home to many fish and a spot where firefighters practice rescue dives.

Also housed in Palais Garnier is the Bibliothèque-Musée de l'Opéra National de Paris, a library and museum focused on the opera house's history.

In 2011, contemporary-style L'Opera Restaurant opened on the backside of Palais Garner, with tables inside as well as an outdoor terrace popular for drinks.