Palais Garnier

The Palais Garnier was born from a terrifying near-death experience. In eighteen fifty-eight, Emperor Napoleon the Third and his wife were nearly killed by a bomb while traveling to their usual opera house. The Emperor survived the attack, but he was shaken and demanded a new, highly secure theater be built. This structure was designed to include a private, guarded entrance that allowed the imperial couple to arrive directly inside the building without facing the public or street-level threats.