The Opéra de Lille replaced the theatre by Michel-Joseph Lequeux, which burned down in 1903. The competition for the new building was won by Louis Marie Cordonnier, who drew on Victor Louis and Charles Garnier; construction lasted from 1907 to 1913. During the First World War the German occupiers used the nearly completed house, and it was not officially inaugurated until 1923. The façade is crowned by a sculpture group by Hippolyte Lefèbvre showing Apollo and the nine Muses. The domed Italian-style auditorium has four galleries and 1,138 seats. After an emergency closure in 1998 the house was extensively modernised and reopened at the end of 2003, in time for Lille's year as European Capital of Culture in 2004. Its regular partners include Emmanuelle Haïm's Le Concert d'Astrée, which is in residence here.
The Opéra de Lille resides in a magnificent 1923 building — the house was a Gestapo headquarters during the Second World War and was reopened in 2003 after extensive restoration.
At a glance
- Type
- Opera house
- Location
- Lille, France
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