Editing Palais Garnier (section)

====Cave of Pythia====
At the foot of the Grand staircase, Garnier wanted to place a white marble statue of [[Orpheus]], but there weren't enough funds for this. Then there were talks about moving the [[La Danse (Carpeaux)]] from the main façade, but instead Garnier chose the ''Pythia'' by [[Adèle d'Affry]] (the artist also known by the pseudonym Marcello). There are two bronze lamps on each side of Pythia, made by Jules Corboz. The intrados of the staircase have plant motifs and musical instruments, masks and shells, the artist imagine it as a [[Nymphaeum]].<ref name="Gerard Fontaine page 110">{{cite book| author = Gerard Fontaine | title = Charles Garnier's Opera A Total Work of Art | year = 2018 | publisher = Éditions Du Patrimoine Centre Des Monuments Nationaux | page = 110| isbn = 978-2757706299}}</ref>

According to the Greek mythology, [[Pythia]] was the priestess of Apollo, the god of arts, and she delivered the oracles of the god. Marcello wanted her Pythia to look different from Pythias of other artists. She wrote: "will be an Indian Pythia, the one whose tongue [[Alexander the Great|Alexander]] set wagging. A kind of gypsy." "A poor woman of a rather strange and bestial type, illuminated by the spirit." She would be like the fortune tellers of India "with tamed snakes curled around their forehand."<ref name="Gerard Fontaine page 110"/>

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File:Opéra Garnier - Bassin de la Pythie 03.JPG
File:Paris, France, Opera Garnier (interior 1).jpg
File:Opéra Garnier - Bassin de la Pythie 02.JPG
File:Pythia.jpg
</gallery>