Opéra Bastille in the context of "Avenue de l'Opéra"

The Palais Garnier (French: [palɛ ɡaʁnje] , Garnier Palace), also known as Opéra Garnier (French: [ɔpeʁa ɡaʁnje] , Garnier Opera), is a historic 1,979-seat opera house at the Place de l'Opéra in the 9th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was built for the Paris Opera from 1861 to 1875 at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. Initially referred to as le nouvel Opéra de Paris (the new Paris Opera), it soon became known as the Palais Garnier, "in acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence" and the architect Charles Garnier's plans and designs, which are representative of the Napoleon III style. It was the primary theatre of the Paris Opera and its associated Paris Opera Ballet until 1989, when a new opera house, the Opéra Bastille, opened at the Place de la Bastille. The company now uses the Palais Garnier mainly for ballet. The theatre has been a monument historique of France since 1923.

The Palais Garnier has been called "probably the most famous opera house in the world, a symbol of Paris like Notre Dame Cathedral, the Louvre, or the Sacré Coeur Basilica". This is at least partly due to its use as the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera and, especially, the novel's subsequent adaptations in films and the popular 1986 musical. Another contributing factor is that among the buildings constructed in Paris during the Second Empire, besides being the most expensive, it has been described as the only one that is "unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank".

The Paris Opera (French: Opéra de Paris [ɔpeʁa də paʁi] ) is the primary opera and ballet company of France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra, and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and officially renamed the Académie Royale de Musique, but continued to be known more simply as the Opéra. Classical ballet as it is known today arose within the Paris Opera as the Paris Opera Ballet and has remained an integral and important part of the company. Currently called the Opéra national de Paris, it mainly produces operas at its modern 2,723-seat theatre Opéra Bastille which opened in 1989, and ballets and some classical operas at the older 1,979-seat Palais Garnier which opened in 1875. Small scale and contemporary works are also staged in the 500-seat Amphitheatre under the Opéra Bastille.

The company's annual budget is in the order of 200 million euros, of which €100M come from the French state and €70M from box office receipts. With this money, the company runs the two houses and supports a large permanent staff, which includes the orchestra of 170, a chorus of 110 and the corps de ballet of 150.

The Place de la Bastille (French pronunciation: [plas d(ə) la bastij]) is a square in Paris where the Bastille Prison once stood, until the storming of the Bastille and its subsequent physical destruction between 14 July 1789 and 14 July 1790 during the French Revolution. No vestige of the prison remains.

The square straddles three arrondissements of Paris, namely the 4th, 11th and 12th. The square and its surrounding areas are normally called simply Bastille. The July Column (Colonne de Juillet) which commemorates the events of the July Revolution (1830) stands at the center of the square. Other notable features include the Bastille Opera, the Bastille subway station and a section of the Canal Saint Martin. Prior to 1984, the former Bastille railway station stood where the opera house now stands.

The Grands Projets of François Mitterrand (variants: Grands Travaux or Grands Projets Culturels; officially: Grandes Opérations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme) was an architectural programme to provide modern monuments in Paris, the city of monuments, symbolising France's role in art, politics and the economy at the end of the 20th century. The programme was initiated by François Mitterrand, the President of France, during his two terms in office (1981-1995). Mitterrand viewed the civic building projects, estimated at the time to cost the Government of France 15.7 billion francs, both as a revitalisation of the city, as well as contemporary architecture promoted by Socialist Party politics. The scale of the project and its ambitious nature was compared to the major building schemes of Louis XIV.

This grandiose plan, commencing in 1982, was termed as a "testament to political symbolism and process" launched in the post-World War II France, as an exercise in urban planning. The Grands Projets, described as "eight monumental building projects that in two decades transformed the city skyline", included the Louvre Pyramid, Musée d'Orsay, Parc de la Villette, Arab World Institute, Opéra Bastille, Grande Arche de La Défense, Ministry of the Economy and Finance building, as well as a new campus for the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the last and most expensive of the group. The projects did not all begin under Mitterrand—the Musée d'Orsay, La Défense Arch, Arab World Institute and La Villette commenced under his predecessor, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing—but they are attributed to Mitterrand as they radically changed form under him.

Carlos Adolfo Ott (born October 16, 1946) is a Uruguayan-Canadian architect. He became famous when he won the international design competition in 1983 for the construction of the Opéra Bastille in Paris, which was inaugurated on July 14, 1989 (bicentennial of the French Revolution). Starting from an office in Toronto, Canada, Ott has since expanded his practice internationally. Ott's practice is headquartered in Montevideo, Uruguay, with offices in Dubai, Montreal, Shanghai and Toronto. Ott has designed buildings in Argentina, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Paraguay, The Philippines, Singapore, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, the United States, and Uruguay.