Editing Palais Garnier (section)

====Chandelier====
The seven-ton bronze and crystal chandelier was designed by Garnier. Jules Corboz prepared the model, and it was cast and chased by Lacarière, Delatour & Cie. The total cost came to 30,000 gold [[French franc|francs]]. The use of a central chandelier aroused controversy, and it was criticised for obstructing views of the stage by patrons in the fourth level boxes and views of the ceiling painted by Lenepveu.<ref name=FontaineChandelier>Fontaine 2004, pp. 94–95.</ref> Garnier had anticipated these disadvantages but provided a lively defence in his 1871 book ''Le Théâtre'': "What else could fill the theatre with such joyous life? What else could offer the variety of forms that we have in the pattern of the flames, in these groups and tiers of points of light, these wild hues of gold flecked with bright spots, and these crystalline highlights?"<ref>Garnier 1871, [https://archive.org/details/lethtre01garngoog/page/n224 p. 205]; quoted and translated by Charles Penwarden in Fontaine 2004, p. 94.</ref>

<gallery mode="packed" heights="250px">
File:Palais Garnier, Lenepveu ceiling model 1872 – Fontaine 2004 p. 83 (adjusted).jpg|Final model for the ceiling painted by [[Jules-Eugène Lenepveu]]
File:Palais Garnier auditorium chandelier - Nuitter 1875 p147.jpg|Auditorium chandelier
</gallery>

On 20 May 1896, one of the chandelier's [[counterweight]]s broke free and burst through the ceiling into the auditorium, killing a concierge. This incident inspired one of the more famous scenes in [[Gaston Leroux]]'s classic 1910 [[gothic novel]] ''[[The Phantom of the Opera (novel)|The Phantom of the Opera]]''.<ref name=FontaineChandelier/>

Originally the chandelier was raised up through the ceiling into the cupola over the auditorium for cleaning, but now it is lowered. The space in the cupola was used in the 1960s for opera rehearsals, and in the 1980s was remodelled into two floors of dance rehearsal space. The lower floor consists of the Salle Nureïev ([[Rudolf Nureyev|Nureyev]]) and the Salle [[Balanchine]], and the upper floor, the Salle [[Marius Petipa|Petipa]].<ref name=FontaineChandelier/>

=====Organ=====
The grand organ was built by [[Aristide Cavaillé-Coll]] for use during lyrical works. It has been out of service for several decades.