Opéra de Lyon
Lyon’s opera house, remodelled by Jean Nouvel with a glass vault above the historic façade.
The Opéra de Lyon stands on Place de la Comédie facing Lyon's Hôtel de Ville and is home to the Opéra national de Lyon and its ballet company. The original Grand Théâtre was built in 1831 by Antoine-Marie Chenavard and Jean-Marie Pollet, replacing an 18th-century theatre by Soufflot, and it presents opera, dance and concerts in a hall of about 1,100 seats.
Between 1989 and 1993 Jean Nouvel gutted and enlarged the building, keeping the neoclassical arcades and muses on the facade while adding a black interior auditorium and a huge glass-and-steel barrel vault on the roof that glows red at night. The house is known for an adventurous programme mixing repertoire staples, new productions and contemporary dance, plus the free-form Opéra Underground series.
Highlights
- Jean Nouvel's glass barrel-vault roof above the 1831 facade
- Eight statues of muses crowning the neoclassical front
- Home of the Lyon Opera Ballet and Orchestra
- Restored 19th-century public foyer with Joanny Domer's painted ceiling
