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YVELINES (78)
Population: 1.47 million
Prefecture: Versailles
Sub-prefectures: Rambouillet, Mantes-la-Jolie, Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
Surface area: 2,284.4 km2
Specialities: Paris Brest, artisanal syrups, chocolates, Noyau distillery in Poissy, cheeses and yoghurts from the Coubertin farm (winners of medals) and Viltain, several breweries including La Volcelest in the Vallée de Chevreuse, professional vineyard "La Bouche du Roi" in Davron, I-Grec yoghurts, biscuit and honey factory Les Deux Gourmands (also winners at the Salon de l'agriculture), over 120 local producers and artisans. Monstrueux (spinach) from Viroflay.
Sport: the leading sports region in Ile-de-France, with almost 400,000 members and 3,000 sports clubs; numerous sporting events every year, including the start of the Paris-Nice cycle race, training sessions for Paris Saint-Germain, and the final stage of the Tour de France, which starts in Yvelines. Yvelines was host to the 2024 Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games: track cycling (Vélodrome National de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), mountain biking (colline d'Elancourt), BMX (Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), golf (Golf National à Guyancourt), equestrian events and modern pentathlon (gardens of Versailles Palace).
Economy: No. 1 in the Ile-de-France region for private R&D, with almost 40 research laboratories, including 8 associated international laboratories, and 17,500 researchers in a wide range of fields: automotive and mobility, aeronautics, aerospace, new technologies, biomedical and healthcare, etc. No. 1 industrial department in the Paris Region, with 106,000 companies representing more than 400,000 jobs; sectors of excellence (automotive industry, aerospace industry, eco-industries, ICT); tourism (In 2019: 2.5 million hotel nights in 2019, 3.1 million tourists in the Yvelines, €823 million in tourist consumption generated in Paris and the Paris Region by tourists who stayed mainly in the Yvelines).
Remarkable sites : Versailles Palace, Château de Rambouillet, Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Madame Elisabeth Estate in Versailles, Château de la Madeleine in Chevreuse, Château de Breteuil, Chevreuse Valley, Parc du Vexin français, Marly-le-Roi Royal Estate, Villa Savoye in Poissy, Zola House in Médan, Maurice Ravel House Museum in Montfort-l'Amaury, Maurice Denis Museum in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Houses of Jean Monnet in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne and Léon Blum in Jouy-en-Josas, Collegiate Church in Mantes-la-Jolie, Collegiate Church in Poissy, Thoiry Zoo... The top 10 most visited sites in the Yvelines also include: Île de loisirs de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines in Trappes, France Miniature in Elancourt, Ferme de Gally in Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole, National Sheepfold in Rambouillet and Espace Rambouillet in Sonchamp.
Festivals : Yvelines Cinéma (August), Electric Park Festival (September, Chatou), Thoiry Lumières Sauvages-festival des lanternes (from October, Thoiry), Pulsations Festival (September, Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines), Electrochic (March, Versailles Grand Parc), Maki festival (June, Carrières-sur-Seine), Jazz à toute heure (March), Fête des Loges in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (late June to mid-August), Fantaisies Musicales, Opéra d'été (September), Ravel Days (October), Blues sur Seine (November), Foire nationale à la brocante et aux jambons.
Websites / FB / Twitter: www.yvelines.fr / www.yvelines-infos / Facebook : @Yvelines.78 / Twitter : @Les_Yvelines / Linkedin : Département des Yvelines / Instagram : @les_yvelines / www.sortir-yvelines.fr / facebook.com/tourisme.yvelines / instagram.com/ytourisme / Twitter : @Ytourisme / Instagram : @ytourisme

Yvelines, a "Little France" on the gateway to Paris

Made up of remarkable villages and new towns, the Yvelines département is renowned for the richness and diversity of its natural heritage, with numerous green spaces, forests and waterways. It is also famous for its cultural, tourist and historical attractions, including the Versailles Palace, the region's most famous jewel and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as well as other remarkable sites such as the Châteaux de Rambouillet, de Breteuil and de la Madeleine.

What's more, Yvelines is a highly attractive economic location, with sectors such as automotive, aeronautics, health, research and innovation. The Yvelines department has an exceptional living environment, in which sport plays a major role and contributes to the region's reputation and vitality. Cycling plays a key role here with a number of major events taking place. Starting with the start of the last stage of the Tour de France every summer, the result of a loyal partnership with Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) renewed this year until 2029, but also Paris-Nice, where the partnership with ASO has lasted for over 15 years, hosting the Grand Départ (1st stage) and the start of the 2nd stage of this famous Race to the Sun. Proud of its "Terre de Vélo" label of excellence, the Yvelines department is actively involved in the development of soft mobility and is pursuing a sustainable policy to promote intermodality, extend its cycle network and encourage cycling for all. Yvelines is a natural "slow tourism" area, with three of Europe's main cycle routes: the London Paris® Green Avenue linking the two capitals, the Véloscénie between Paris and Mont Saint-Michel and La Seine à Vélo between Paris and Le Havre / Deauville.

As host of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Département des Yvelines intends to turn this global event into a legacy for the people of Yvelines, pursuing its sports policy to provide access to sport and para-sport for everyone, everywhere in the département.

Épône (Pop: 6,500)

Temple of David

Built: 1785.
History and characteristics: painter Jacques-Louis David designed the plans. It was built in 1785 by Seigneur Marie-Jean Hérault de Séchelles to celebrate the signing of the 1778 treaty of alliance between France and the young United States of America. Benjamin Franklin, who negotiated the treaty for the United States, worked here.
This building is regarded as a symbol of Franco-American friendship and as the first known Masonic temple in France, with its typical decoration. Robespierre and other revolutionaries drafted the first constitution here in 1791.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1947.

Maule (Pop: 5,850)

Maule is the birthplace of Robert Charpentier (1906-1966), Olympic road racing champion in 1966 (see ISSY-LES-MOULINEAUX).

Château d'Agnou

Construction: 16th century.
History:it stands on the remains of a former 12th-century keep castle, Château Saint-Vincent. The work of Nicolas de Harlay, Sieur de Sancy and Superintendent of Finances for Henry IV, it required the complete reclamation of the surrounding marshes. Now privately owned, Château d'Agnou was used as a hospice during the First World War and as a base for the Wehrmacht during the Second. It has a single sixty-metre wing, partly rebuilt in the 17th century, and a beautiful stone staircase leading down to the gardens.
Special features: It still has its dovecote, a tall cylindrical tower dating from the 16th century, one of the largest in the Île-de-France region and one of the oldest in France.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1979.

Victor Aubert Museum

Located in the town of Maule, this museum boasts astonishing and original archaeological collections devoted to palaeontology, prehistory, the Gallo-Roman era, the early Middle Ages and popular arts and traditions. Fossils, mammoth teeth, plants...

Feucherolles (Pop: 2,940)

A small residential community on the outskirts of Paris, Feucherolles has been and still is home to PSG players and sports and entertainment stars such as Sheila, Yannick Noah, Vanessa Paradis and Joe Dassin, who gave his name to the town's cultural centre. A bust of him has been erected here.  

Villepreux (Pop: 10,000)

Saint Vincent de Paul gave his first sermons here when he was tutor to the de Gondi family. The town boasts a fine heritage of old houses, including the Saint-Vincent House, the second home of the Daughters of Charity founded by Saint Vincent de Paul, now a venue for exhibitions and conferences, and the Grand'Maisons Estate, a listed 18th-century château transformed into a hotel for receptions, weddings and banquets. Villepreux was the destination of the Royal Alley of Villepreux, designed by Le Nôtre and linking the Versailles Palace to Saint-Cyr-l'École, Fontenay-le-Fleury, Rennemoulin and Villepreux. Left to its own devices, the avenue, which ran through the King's hunting grounds, is now undergoing a major restoration programme.     

Château de Villepreux

Built: 1598
Style: classical
History: the Francini family built the mansion that later became the château of the Seigneurie de Villepreux. The Francinis were the kings' fountain builders: two brothers, Thomas and Alexandre, were highly talented hydraulic engineers. From 1661, they devoted themselves to the Versailles Palace. Thanks to the variety and profusion of the water features they designed, the Francinis became the magicians of the Versailles park. In 1768, François-Honoré, the last of the Francinis, sold the seigneury of Villepreux to Louis XV. François Heurtier, architect for the royal buildings, bought the château from Louis XVI in 1788. After the Revolution, the Merlins, owners of the Grand 'Maisons farm, acquired Château de Villepreux. The most famous farmers of Grand 'Maisons were the Barbé family, who farmed the property for almost two centuries.
Current use: the estate is now a venue for receptions and seminars.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1970.

Saint-Cyr-l'Ecole (Pop: 18,800)

The Lycée Militaire de Saint-Cyr is one of six lycées de la Défense (former military colleges) run by the French Ministry of the Armed Forces, located in the commune of Saint-Cyr-l'École. The buildings of the lycée have a particularly rich historical past, having been home to the Maison royale de Saint-Louis, the Prytanée militaire and the École spéciale militaire (Special Military School). The school's mottos are "Rather die" and "The true school of command is general culture". In 2020, Saint-Cyr-L'École hosted the first stage of Paris-Nice, won by Irishman Sam Bennett. The town was also home to the Aeronautic Insitute, where Bernard Hinault worked on his aerodynamics in the 1980s under the guidance of Professor Ménard. 

Museum of the Lycée Militaire

The Lycée Militaire (Military High School) of Saint-Cyr has a long history! Housed in the former Pavillon des Archives, the museum traces the history of the school back to its creation by Madame de Maintenon, wife of Louis XIV. At the time, the school's aim was to educate young noble girls who had no money. The site later became a military hospital, then a prytanée, before giving way to an imperial special military school, then a college and finally a military lycée in 1983.

Viroflay (Pop: 16,139)

Famous for its "monstrous", a variety of spinach that has long been unique to the town, Viroflay is now a large, upmarket residential suburb of the capital.

Chaville (Pop: 20,320)

Chaville is well known to cycling fans for hosting the Paris-Tours classic for nine years between 1979 and 1987, when it was renamed Blois-Chaville, then Créteil-Chaville. Joop Zoetemelk, Sean Kelly and Phil Anderson were among the winners in Chaville.

Meudon (Pop: 45,300)

Meudon developed around the church dedicated to St. Martin. Meldun became Melodunum, then Meudon at the foot of the castle that dominates the village. From the 16th century onwards, a vast pleasure residence replaced the fortified building and became the home of the love affairs of King Francis I and his mistress Anne de Pisseleu. The 19th century was a time of change for Meudon. The observatory gazed up at the stars, the Inventions Office tracked down technical innovations, Captain Charles Renard made the world's first closed-circuit flight in the airship La France at Hangar Y and Marcellin Berthelot discovered the secrets of plant chemistry. Artists were at work: Auguste Rodin sculpted, Isadora Duncan danced, Richard Wagner composed The Flying Dutchman and painters tirelessly painted the bucolic landscapes of the Seine. In the 20th century, Meudon-la-Forêt emerged from the fields, Renault colonised Ile Seguin before cutting-edge technology replaced assembly lines on the banks of the Seine. Artists continued their quest, with Jean Arp inventing abstract art, Alberto Magnelli assembling colours and shapes, Marcel Dupré improvising, Céline crying out his despair and François Stahly sculpting monumental fountains. The great architects were not to be outdone, turning Meudon into a laboratory: Prouvé, André Bloc, Van Doesburg. In 1986, the town hosted the start of a team time trial won by Laurent Fignon's Système U team. In 2018, Arnaud Démare won the first stage of Paris-Nice from Chatou.

PARIS 

Parc des Princes

Construction: the Parc des Princes velodrome stadium was inaugurated on 18 July 1897 and rebuilt in 1969.
Capacity: 47,229 (Ligue 1 versions).
History: The Parc des Princes stadium owes its name to a wooded area between the Bois de Boulogne and the Porte de Saint-Cloud, which was used from the 18th century onwards as a place to relax, hunt and stroll, popular with the king and royal princes. This character was reinforced in the first half of the 19th century as the Parisian bourgeoisie adopted these pleasures, which had previously been reserved for the nobility. The site was purely natural until 1855, when it underwent its first urban developments with the construction of a road, kick-starting the development of the future Parc des Princes district. The name "Parc des Princes" appears to have been coined at this time, using the terms "Route des Princes" and "Porte des Princes", which had been in use since the 18th century. Since the 1980s, the Parc des Princes has hosted concerts. Michael Jackson was the first in 1988 and 1997 (over 240,000 spectators for 4 concerts), the Rolling Stones played 3 concerts in 1990, Johnny Hallyday celebrated his 50th birthday in 1993 (4 nights in a row) and his 60th birthday in 2003 (also for 4 nights), U2 (53,519 spectators on 6 September 1997), Robbie Williams, Prince and Iron Maiden.  

The Louvre

Foundation: converted into a museum in the 18th century. Inaugurated in 1793 as the Central Museum of Arts of the Republic.
Characteristics: with an exhibition area of 72,735 m2, it is now the largest museum of art and antiquities in the world. In 2018, with around 10.2 million visitors a year, the Louvre is the most visited museum in the world (and the most visited paying cultural site in France). Its collection comprises more than 550,000 works, and its most famous pieces include Mona Lisa, Venus of Milo, the Crouching Scribe, Victory of Samothrace and the Code of Hammurabi.
History: The international renown of the Musée du Louvre sometimes obscures the fact that it was originally designed as a palace. From the Middle Ages onwards, its evolution waś marked both by the events of French history and by the succession of architects and decorators who left their mark on it. Medieval castle, palace of the kings of France, museum since 1793, the Palais du Louvre has developed its architecture over more than 800 years.  

Pyramid of the Louvre

Construction: completed in 1989.
History: erected, in the centre of the Cour Napoléon, the glass pyramid is the work of Sino-American architect Ieoh Ming Pei, and was commissioned by French president François Mitterrand in 1983. Its creator diedd on 16 May 2019 in New York at the age of 102. A symbol of a museum open to the world, it celebrates its 30th anniversary throughout 2019 with a series of festive events. Before becoming one of the most admired buildings in the world, it was at the centre of a veritable quarrel between the old and the new. The introduction of a contemporary element in a context with a high heritage content was not accepted... and yet... The Pyramid has the exact proportions of the Khufu Pyramid at its base, measuring 35.42-m wide and 21.34-m high, and is supported by 95 tonnes of steel and 105 tonnes of aluminium. When we think of the Pyramid, we think of the transparent architecture visible in the main courtyard, facing the Tuileries Gardens, but there are in fact five pyramids throughout the museum (including this one, three smaller ones, skylights and the inverted one visible in the basement)... It is also a reminder of the museum's extensive collection of Egyptian antiquities, and of the Obelisk not far away on Place de la Concorde.

Place de la Concorde

Built: 1757 to 1763
History: originally called Place Louis XV, then in 1792 Place de la Révolution (after the equestrian statue sculpted by Bouchardon was knocked over). Covering an area of 84,000 m2, it became the main place of execution during the Reign of Terror, where 1,119 people, including King Louis XVI and his wife Marie-Antoinette, were also executed.
Characteristics: around the square, eight statues represent eight French cities: Brest, Rouen, Lille, Strasbourg, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux and Nantes. Two fountains, inspired by those of St Peter's in Rome, were added to the square: the northern one, dedicated to river navigation, and the southern one, dedicated to maritime navigation. The pink granite obelisk was donated to France in 1831 by Mehmet Ali, viceroy and pasha of Egypt. The 23.39-m-high monument originally stood in the temple at Thebes (Luxor). Covered in hieroglyphs recounting the reigns of Ramses II and III, the base describes the technical means and tricks required to transport it and erect it on the square. The pyramidion (at the top) has been covered in gold leaf to restore its original appearance.
Special features: the Marly horses are mounted on two columns on either side of the Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Sculpted by Nicolas and Guillaume Coustou, they were installed in 1795. In 1984, weakened, they were replaced by copies, in reconstituted marble. The originals are kept in the Louvre Museum.  

Avenue des Champs-Élysées

Avenue des Champs-Élysées is located in the 8th arrondissement of Paris. It stretches 1,910 metres from east to west, linking Place de la Concorde and Place Charles-de-Gaulle (formerly Place de l'Étoile). In the lower part, to the east of the Champs-Élysées-Marcel-Dassault roundabout, the avenue is bordered by side-alleys (known as the "Champs-Élysées Promenade") running alongside the Champs-Élysées gardens. Originally, the Champs-Élysées were nothing more than uninhabited marshland. Marie de Medic decided to lay out a long avenue, Cours la Reine, which opened in 1616. Louis XIV, wishing to embellish and extend the capital, decided to demolish the fortifications and build large avenues. He commissioned André Le Nôtre to lay out this "avenue des Tuileries" as a royal thoroughfare through the woods and marshes along the Seine. From today's Place de la Concorde to today's Champs-Élysées roundabout, Le Nôtre laid out a beautiful avenue lined with elm trees and lawns. It was called  "Grand-Cours" to distinguish it from Cours la Reine. The name Champs-Élysées was not definitively established until 1709. For a long time, the Champs-Élysées had a bad reputation. It was a place for guinguettes, attracting bad boys, prostitutes and even brigands. The popularity of the Champs-Élysées, which took its definitive name in 1789, did not really take off until the French Revolution. It was through the Champs-Élysées that the procession of shrews passed on their way to Versailles on 5 October 1789 to bring the royal family back to Paris. It was also via the Champs-Élysées that the royal family was brought back to Paris on 25 June 1791 after fleeing to Varennes, between two hedges of National Guards. During the Universal Exhibition of 1855, the Champs-Élysées became the place to be. While the avenue had just six houses in 1800, it was soon lined with blocks of flats, town houses and bourgeois homes. The Second Empire was a golden era for the Champs-Élysées. The avenue became the centre of elegant Parisian life. After falling into disrepair, the avenue was finally renovated in the early 1990s and inaugurated on 26 September 1994 by Jacques Chirac, Mayor of Paris at the time. Every year since 1975, the last stage of the Tour de France has ended on the Champs-Élysées with a veritable parade after more than three weeks of racing.

Arc de Triomphe

Construction: 1806 to 1836
Characteristics: the Arc de Triomphe stands in the centre of Place Charles-de-Gaulle. It is located in the axis and at the western end of Avenue des Champs-Élysées. Measuring 49.54- m high, 44.82-m wide and 22.21-m deep, it is managed by the Centre des monuments nationaux. The monument weighs 50,000 tonnes (actually 100,000 tonnes if you take into account the foundations, which sink to a depth of 8.37 m).
History: The day after the battle of Austerlitz, Napoleon I told the French soldiers: "You will only return home under triumphal arches". In an imperial decree dated 18 February 1806, he ordered the construction of this triumphal arch to perpetuate the memory of the victories of the French armies. Construction was completed between 1832 and 1836 by architect Guillaume-Abel Blouet. The Arc de Triomphe was inaugurated on 29 July 1836 to mark the sixth anniversary of the Trois Glorieuses.
Special features: the Arc de Triomphe is one of the national monuments with a strong historical connotation. This importance has been reinforced since the remains of the Unknown Soldier, killed in the First World War, were interred there on 28 January 1921. Two years later, André Maginot, then Minister for War, supported the project to install a "flame of remembrance" there, which was lit for the first time on 11 November 1923.
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1896.

Orangery Museum

Construction: 19th century.
History: built in 1852 to the designs of architect Firmin Bourgeois to house the orange trees in the Tuileries gardens during the winter, the current building was completed by his successor, Louis Visconti. Until then, the orange trees in the Tuileries gardens were housed in the lower gallery of the Louvre Palace during this season.
Characteristics: French museum of Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings, located in the Tuileries Gardens. In addition to the famous Water Lilies cycle, eight large paintings by Claude Monet that cover the walls of two large oval rooms, the museum features works by Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Alfred Sisley, Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Le Douanier Rousseau, André Derain, Chaïm Soutine, Marie Laurencin, Maurice Utrillo, Paul Gauguin and Kees van Dongen.
Listed as: Musée de France.

Church of the Madeleine

Construction: 18th century.
Style: Neoclassical architectural style with octostyle portico.
History and
characteristics: it took 80 years to build due to the political turmoil in France at the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century. Conceived by Napoleon I as a Greek temple dedicated to the glory of his Great Army in 1806, the building was almost transformed into a railway station in 1837, the first in Paris, before becoming a church in 1845.
Characteristics: the building is 108-m long, 43-m wide and 30-m high, and is surrounded by 52 Corinthian columns.
Listed as: Historical Monument in 1915. Unesco World Heritage Site for Paris, Banks of the Seine.

Côte de la Butte-Montmartre (Rue Lepic)

On 3 and 4 August 2024, the men's and women's road race pelotons of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games climbed the Butte Montmartre via Rue Lepic, passing the Moulin de la Galette and skirting the Sacré Coeur. This tourist mecca then became a huge sports ground devoted to the love of cycling, and the popular success was such that the Tour de France could not avoid attracting a similar craze. Remco Evenepoel and Kristen Faulkner built their success on this well-known Parisian hill. Opened in 1809 by order of Napoleon I, the street was named in 1864 after General Louis Lepic (1765-1827), who distinguished himself at the Battle of Eylau in 1807. Some of the greatest painters of the 19th and 20th centuries lived or worked near this thoroughfare.

Sacré Coeur Basilica in Montmartre

Construction: 19th century (1875).
Style: Romanesque-Byzantine
History: in July 1870, the Second Empire ruled by Napoleon III launched a war against Prussia. The emperor was defeated at Sedan. The 19th century had already seen many conflicts and political upheavals, but from 1870 onwards, everything accelerated: the Empire was deposed, the Third Republic proclaimed and then overthrown for a time by the Paris Commune shortly after the siege of Paris by the Prussians... Alexandre Legentil, a Parisian living in exile in Poitiers, was dismayed by the situation and became convinced that the misfortunes France was suffering were the result of divine punishment after a century of spiritual and moral decline. By way of "reparation" for the salvation of their country, he vowed to build "a sanctuary dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus" in Paris. He joined forces with his brother-in-law, Hubert Rohault de Fleury, and the two men took their project to Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, who approved the project in 1872. At the end of 1873, the National Assembly passed a law recognising the public utility of building a new church in Montmartre, and a vast fundraising campaign was launched throughout France. The campaign was a resounding success: anyone able to raise even a small amount of money to buy a stone would have their initials or name engraved on it. Many people criticised the project, seeing it as an insult to the memory of the Communards. Indeed, Montmartre is the place where the popular uprising of the Commune began on 18 March 1871. Symbolically, the decision to build a Catholic place of worship on the site of the uprising by anti-clerical republicans from proletarian backgrounds led to debate. However, the controversy died down as the building took shape and the immaculate Basilica of the Sacred Heart was erected.
Characteristics: The Basilica is 85-metres long and 35-metres wide. The cupola is 55- metres high and the dome rises to 83 metres,
Listed as: Historical Monument in 2022.  

Palais Garnier

Construction: between 1862 and 1875
History: its construction was directed by Charles Garnier (1825-1898), 1st Grand Prix de Rome in 1848. It is the thirteenth opera house in Paris since the institution was founded by Louis XIV in 1669. Its construction was decided by Napoleon III as part of the major renovation work carried out in the capital under his orders by Baron Haussmann. It became the temple of dance, classical music and opera. Together with the Bastille Opera House, it forms the administrative structure of Opéra de Paris.
Characteristics: the grand staircase rises to a height of 30 m and, according to its architect, is the true heart of the theatre. A wide variety of marbles in white, grey, yellow, green, red, pink and violet and a profusion of colours in the statues: Garnier fought to impose polychromy in his Palais against the defenders of monochromy, led by Eugène Delacroix. The ceiling of the Opéra was completely renovated and reinvented in 1964 at the instigation of the Minister of Culture André Malraux. Marc Chagall, 77, was commissioned to create the frescoes, which covered an area of 220 m² and took a year to complete. The painter was completely selfless and received no salary. The ceiling is characterised by its luminous colours and multitude of details and pays tribute to 14 major composers of opera and lyrical music.
Trivia: the opera houses a fire brigade of 20 firemen and a police station on duty day and night, manual sprinkler stations equipped with hoses in all parts of the theatre and, above all, a water tank that is completely evacuated every 20 years (48.27m x 37.57m wide, 2,400 m3, contained around a hundred or so pillars, giving the firemen the possibility of drawing from it and containing a fire more quickly and more effectively. This tank is the source of the famous legend of an underground lake mentioned in Gaston Leroux's novel The Phantom of the Opera.)
Listed as: Historical Monument since 1923.