Paris. Heir to the Royal Academies of Dance and Music founded by Louis XIV, the Paris National Opera has four sites including the Palais Garnier, located in the Opera district of the capital. This building, listed as a historic monument, was built in 1875 by Charles Garnier, and houses a vast stage of 1,350 square meters in a room with 2,100 seats, rehearsal studios and a basement with a reservoir, which inspired Gaston Leroux to investigate The Phantom of the Opera (1910). Since 1989, the public establishment has also included the Bastille building, built by Carlos Ott, with a capacity of 2,700 seats with a main stage (750 square meters) reserved for operas, where Garnier mainly hosts ballets. As highlighted in a report from the Court of Auditors published in October 2024, neither of the two buildings has undergone major work, apart from two renovations (Garnier), while the signs of aging are increasing: the Opéra Bastille has had nets on its facade for several years, and the technical and electrical infrastructure is dilapidated. On the stage side, at Bastille as at Garnier, many mechanical devices are broken down, and the stage cages are deteriorating.
Poor anticipation of the work to be carried out
In March 2025, the general director of the Paris National Opera, Alexander Neef, announced that it would be necessary “600 million euros of investment until 2037” for the establishment’s four sites (Garnier, Bastille, École de Danse à Nanterre and Ateliers Berthier). In June 2025, Rachida Dati partially confirmed this figure, indicating that the Bastille work would cost around 400 million euros: according to the Minister of Culture, “the scene threatens to collapse” and the work could last ten years, until 2037. A senatorial report from 2011 had initially estimated the needs at 12 million euros for Bastille… In September, Alexander Neef and the minister declared that work would begin at Garnier in 2027 and at Bastille in 2030, with two periods of closure of the rooms.
This closure, inevitable, results from a chronic lack of investment according to the report of the Court of Auditors, a point already pointed out in 2017 by MP Aurore Bergé during a question asked to Minister of Culture Françoise Nyssen. The report clearly highlights “exceptional support from the State”to a unique institution in France, but points “the hesitation of guardianships” on major projects and the weakness of investment: over the period studied (2015-2023), the State granted 1.4 million euros per year in investment, while the report put the total needs at 200 million euros. The annual amount was increased to 5 million for the period 2022-2026, in a contract of objectives and means. The operating subsidy is around 102 million euros annually, a sum that will increase slightly in 2025, but insufficient in the face of the explosion in fixed costs. Certainly, the Paris Opera has its own resources thanks to ticketing which brings in more than 75 million euros each year, given the increase in ticket prices, particularly for operas. On this point, the report underlines the reduced room for maneuver of the institution, which must maintain an attractive pricing policy as recalled by the minister in September, while generating more ticketing revenue. Garnier’s sponsorship, privatizations and paid visits also constitute sources of income. If the staff strike at the end of 2019 and the Covid crisis in 2020 weighed down the financial health of the Opera, 2023 and 2024 were slightly surplus years, and 2025 should be as well.
While the finance bill for 2026 is still under debate, neither the minister nor Alexander Neef have explained in detail how the work will be financed. The Opera has already announced the support of major patrons, such as Chanel and the BNP Paribas Foundation, for the works. But the amount of future investments is quite exceptional for a non-museum cultural institution: for comparison, the renovation of the Center Pompidou will cost around 460 million euros. The closure of the Garnier and Bastille operas alternately will logically lead to a loss of income (privatization, ticketing) and a total reorganization of activities (in particular for dancers). Alexander Neef, in office until 2032, plans shows mounted in co-production in other establishments in France, and an artistic policy which favors revivals of plays rather than creations, in order to reduce production costs.
