Paris Opera House

[Buddy]

I was just in Paris and my first day out the Louvre seemed brighter and cleaner than I’ve ever seen it. Actually the entire inner city seemed the same. Possibly, the word went out, that because of the Olympics, if you’re going to clean things up, do it now.

So what about the long awaited cleaning and restoration of the Opera House facade ?  Hoping to stroll the Boulevard de l’Opera, face on, to it’s very, newly polished steps…Surprise. The front was still completely covered.

Considering that this is perhaps the most beautiful building in France, it’s an event that I’ll still look forward to seeing. I’ve seen no comments on whether it will be done in time. Paris is usually pretty good at getting things like this done, and with a flare.

Also the city was somewhat less tourist crowded. I would guess that many travelers have stayed away, thinking that the city would be too packed. Not the case.

“After a year and a half of restoration of the roof over the stage house in 1921/22, restoration of the facade has begun at the Garnier Opera House in Paris. Specifically, the facade will be cleaned, the gilding and wall sculptures will be restored, and an anti-graffiti treatment will be applied. The cost of 7.2 million euros is financed by advertisement. At present, a huge canvas covers the scaffolding. The canvas reproduces part of the facade, while the rest shows an advertisement. The work will be completed by the end of 2024.”

https://www.pizzicato.lu/facade-of-the-palais-garnier-in-paris-being-restored/?doing_wp_cron=1720991708.8203449249267578125000

“The work will be completed by the end of 2024.” So maybe it wasn’t intended to be done in time for the Olympics.

[Drew]

2 hours ago, Buddy said:

I was just in Paris and my first day out the Louvre seemed brighter and cleaner than I’ve ever seen it. Actually the entire inner city seemed the same. Possibly, the word went out, that because of the Olympics, if you’re going to clean things up, do it now.

 

Glad you are enjoying Paris.  I'm sure the word went out--or rather that the law was laid down--to get many parts of the city as bright and clean as possible for the Olympics.

(I think the hope is that Notre Dame will re-open in December; that will be a very big deal indeed.

[Buddy]

Hi, Drew. Also did Greece — Santorini, Crete and Athens. All, highly recommended. Didn’t get to see any dancing, hopefully next time, but did hear two fine, traditional singer-musicians.

I believe that Malraux, under De Gaulle, made it the law, that Paris buildings have to be cleaned on a regular basis. I’ve found Paris to be an exceptionally clean city. Paris mayors, with at least one becoming President, take great pride in this. The challenge with cleaning a monument such as the Paris Opera is to do it sensitively, using the best techniques available, for long term preservation.

[Kristen]

I was in Paris in late May and the city was more crowded than I've seen it in many years. There has been much online chatter about the Olympics making Paris NOT a good destination so that may have taken hold. The cleaning of the buildings is something I've enjoyed seeing over many decades of visits. It is a huge task and the resulting color change is another WOW moment in that beautiful city. I was dismayed to see an advertisement covering the beautiful Palais Garnier - glad to know there was a good reason.

I'm always surprised when I see people refer to Paris as "dirty." Have they visited New York City, my second favorite city in the world? As I explained to a doubting relative "the garbage bags piled on the street at night and the smell of urine on the stairs into the subway is part of the charm." 🤣

Why Paris would want to host the Olympics remains a mystery to me - best left to cities that want to put themselves on the map - surely not needed by Paris or Los Angeles, where their legendary traffic issues will be worse than ever in 2028.