Royal Opera at the Château de Versailles Spectacles

Château de Versailles Spectacles -
Royal Opera

Wishing to give Château de Versailles a theatre where all the magnificence required for the performance of the large musical compositions with machinery that he enjoyed could be deployed, Louis XIV decided it should be built at the end of the North Wing. This was a good choice as the water reservoirs close by offered security and the slope of the ground created wide spaces under the stage.

The works began in 1685, but it is only under Louis XV that Ange-Jacques Gabriel and Blaise-Henri Arnoult – the King's first architect and the King's first machinist – finished the building. On May 16^th 1770, the Royal Opera was inaugurated during the celebrations organised for the wedding of the Dauphin, the future King Louis XVI, to Archduchess Marie-Antoinette.

After its restoration, from 1952 to 1957, by the architect André Japy, the theatre recovered its exceptional quality, completed by the reconstruction of the Bal Paré decors. During the renovation works undertaken to reinforce security and bring new technical equipment to the stage, some of the 1770 machines, famous in their time, were rediscovered.

The Opera was closed from June 2007 to September 2009, for major security works which gave new life to this wonderful place, entirely built in wood, which gives it its exceptional acoustics.

This theatre was the venue for royal life and then republican events, celebrations, performances and parliamentary debates. The performances designed for this exceptional venue revive the period where Versailles was one of Europe's main musical creation centres.

Today, the Royal Opera offers more than 100 performance dates during each musical season, staged or concert version operas, recitals, plays and ballets. Cecilia Bartoli, William Christie, Sébastien Daucé, Vincent Dumestre, Franco Fagioli, Leonardo García Alarcón, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Jaroussky, Václav Luks, Thierry Malandain, Hervé Niquet, Raphaël Pichon, Angelin Preljocaj, François-Xavier Roth, Jordi Savall, Jean-Christophe Spinosi and many major names and international artists perform on this prestigious stage.