La Gaîté Lyrique

The building you are approaching began its life in eighteen sixty-two as a centerpiece of Baron Haussmann's massive urban renovation of Paris. Architects Jacques-Ignace Hittorff and Alphonse Cusin designed the theater to replace older performance venues that were demolished to make way for new boulevards. It quickly established itself as a premier venue for opera and operetta, serving as a hub for the city's cultural elite and even hosting the seventieth birthday celebration of the writer Victor Hugo.