Opéra Bastille

The Opéra Bastille presents a massive, curved glass facade that reflects the sky and the street corner, a sharp contrast to the gilded ornamentation of the older Palais Garnier across town. President Francois Mitterrand commissioned this building for the two hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution, intending to make opera accessible to a wider public. Carlos Ott, the architect, designed the interior with over two thousand seats. He insisted that every patron receive an unobstructed view of the stage from any angle.