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Paris Opera House is a grand building in Paris where the military headquarters of the Lunar army in the European Federation is located.

History[]

In the Second Era, the opera house was known as Palais Garnier, often referred to as the Opéra Garnier.[note 1] It was designed by the architect Charles Garnier and built between 1861 and 1875 S.E. as part of the great reconstruction of Paris during the Second Empire of France initiated by Emperor Napoleon III.[1]

For many centuries, it was the home of Paris Opera, the primary opera company of France. With a surface of over 11,000 square meters, it was the largest opera house in the world & an architectural marvel. It was most famously known for its use as the setting for The Phantom of the Opera.

During World War IV, the opera house was converted into a storage space for artillery & prisoners of war. The building was later abandoned for many years until the Lunar army settled in[2] and used it as their military headquarters in the European Federation.[3]

Recent Events[]

On August 11, 126 T.E., Michelle is kidnapped from the Benoit Farms and Gardens by a pack of special operatives under Jael. She was transported to the opera house and held captive for three weeks.

On August 30, 126 T.E., Wolf guided Scarlet to the opera house in their search for Michelle. The building seemed empty as there was no sign of life & no response to Scarlet's yelling on the foot of the staircase. After Scarlet received a comm informing her of her father, Luc's, death, Jael appeared from behind two pillars. He discussed Wolf's mission and then ordered two soldiers, Rafe & Troya, to imprison Scarlet in the cells in the opera house.[4]

Rafe & Troya escorted Scarlet to the private balcony where Ran was sitting in the front row waiting for her. Ran used Lunar glamour to manipulate Scarlet into perceiving him as Michelle. He tried to gain information from her about Michelle's ability to resist the Lunar glamour. Afterwards, Jael entered and when Scarlet attempted to attack him, manipulated her into sobbing uncontrollably on the floor.[5]

Characteristics[]

Location[]

The opera house is located at the city square, Place de l'Opéra on the Boulevard des Capucines in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France.[1] Across the square, the main façade of the opera house is facing a boarded-up entrance to the subway station Opéra, which was closed at the time of Wolf and Scarlet's visit.[2]

Features[]

The building is decorated with elaborate marble friezes, columns and lavish statuary, many of which portray deities of Greek mythology.[1] Due to the effects of war and long vacancy, the building was tarnished.

The main façade, located on the south side of the building, is graced with statues & surmounted by groups of sculptures. It consists of a raised ground floor surmounted by a loggia with stone columns connected by balconies and accompanied by marble columns.[6] One of these balconies is missing half of its balusters.[2] The ground floor is further pierced by seven arched doorways giving access to the inside of the building.[6] These doorways are guarded by statues of angels & cherubim. To enter, the visitor must walk past the statues and through one of the doorways with the doors beneath the portico being covered in graffiti.[2]

The interior has a decorative scheme gradually shading from light to dark through a series of increasingly narrow lobbies leading to the grand staircase.[7] The lobbies are full of dust & the floor is littered with chunks of broken marble. It's pitch-black and the only light comes from flickering candlelight beyond the arches from one of the two female torchères draped in billowing fabric atop a pedestal that flanks the grand staircase. The torchère without light is missing her head & the arm that had once held her own candelabra.[4]

The staircase is carved from red-and-white marble & is missing random balustrades.[4] It divides into two divergent flights of stairs that lead to the grand foyer.[1] Three stories of balconies rise above and in their center, where the light barely reaches, is a painted ceiling with a square window in its center that has long been missing.[4]

Auditorium[]

The auditorium has a traditional Italian horseshoe shape and could originally seat 1,979 visitors.[1] At the back, huge doors leading to a balcony overlook the lobby & the grand staircase. Away from the stairs, past more statues of cherubs & angels, is another staircase leading to the first & second balcony. Closed doors lead into the theater, to the higher tiers of seats. Another hallway leads to a private balcony, overlooking the stage, holding only four red velvet chairs in two rows.[5]

The backstage can be reached through a thin stairwell leading to a doorway. The rafters in the backstage are filled with dusty old props & black curtains. The only light comes from runners along the aisles in the audience. An entire section of seats has been removed, leaving holes where they’d once been bolted to the sloped floor.[5]

Scarlet's Cell[]

The cell that Scarlet had been kept captive was originally a dressing room. Vague outlines of mirrors & vanities are burned into the walls and the strips of light bulbs that surrounded them had been reduced to empty sockets. The carpet has been pulled up, revealing cold stone beneath, and the solid oak door has been taken off its hinges and left abandoned in the corner, replaced instead with welded iron bars and an ID-sensitive lock.[5]

Library[]

The Rotonde de l'Empereur is located on the west side of the building and houses the Paris Opera Library-Museum.[1] The library was originally suited for royalty, a room for high-society Earthens to muse over the philosophical works of their ancestors. Display cases once held priceless art. Two stories of bookshelves full of dust that once held books, long gone now after having been rescued as the military took over. The library is now used as Jael's private office. At the end of the wood-paneled gallery, a wide desk made of plastic & metal, stood stark & dull against the extravagant décor.[8]

Trivia[]

  • When Marissa Meyer decided to set the climax of Scarlet in Paris, she researched well-known landmarks that had historical importance & architectural details she could use to add realism and atmosphere to the story.[9] She ended up choosing between the opera house, the catacombs and Conciergerie, and posted the three choices on her blog. Her readers voted for the opera house.[10]
  • Meyer had never been to France so she used Google streetview to walk up & down the streets surrounding the opera house as well as taking a virtual tour online to explore its interior. She then wrote down ten pages of description, of which only a few paragraphs made it into the book.[9]

Notes[]

  1. The name of the building has never been explicitly stated in the story and is inferred from the description of the building and Marissa Meyer's mention in interviews and her online posts.

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Wikipedia, Palais Garnier
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Scarlet, Chapter 26
  3. Scarlet, Chapter 13
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Scarlet, Chapter 27
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Scarlet, Chapter 29
  6. 6.0 6.1 Palais Garnier Official Website, The façades
  7. Palais Garnier Official Website, The interior
  8. Scarlet, Chapter 30
  9. 9.0 9.1 Makeshift Bookmark, Scarlet Blog Tour + Amazing Giveaway
  10. Voya Magazine, Wouldn’t You Like to Know... Marissa Meyer

External links[]

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