[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1353890578.jpg?w=1024″]<\/p>\n
\n\tThe discovery of lead during renovation work at Paris\u2019s historic Palais Garnier\u2014opened in 1875 and summoned as inspiration for Gaston Leroux\u2019s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera <\/em>(and even more famously for Andrew Lloyd Weber\u2019s musical adaptation)\u2014has \u201cthrow[n] a tight schedule of venue closures and the projected budget into disarray,\u201d according to a report in Le Figaro<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tPlanned restoration work that was supposed to take two years is now projected for five, with evaluation for the best method to extract the lead to be undertaken this summer. \u201cDepending on the method chosen, the duration of the Palais Garnier stage\u2019s closure will be determined this fall,\u201d Le Figaro<\/em> reports. \u201cBarring any unpleasant surprises, management can already announce that the work will extend from at least 2027 to 2032, leading the Paris Opera to offer an off-site program during this period.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tAlexander Neef, the Paris Opera\u2019s artistic director, told Le Figaro<\/em> in the spring that he regarded the previously projected pause as a \u201chiatus\u201d rather than a closure, with plans to keep one of the Palais Garnier\u2019s two venues\u2014the historic Palais Garnier and the more modern Op\u00e9ra Bastille\u2014open while the other is restored, and vice-versa. \u201cWe\u2019re starting the work at Garnier because its closure, in terms of revenue and operations, will have a much smaller impact than that of Bastille,\u201d Neef said at the time. \u201cIf I close Bastille while the Garnier stage isn\u2019t functioning perfectly, I\u2019m taking a risk.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIf Garnier closes from 2027 to 2032, renovation work on Bastille will begin during the 2033\u201334 season. But plans are now in flux, as is the budget. According to Le Figaro<\/em>, the total cost of the work had been estimated at 670 million euros (around $765.8 million).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/art-news\/news\/palais-garnier-toxic-lead-renovation-1234791099\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/www.artnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/GettyImages-1353890578.jpg?w=1024″] The discovery of lead during renovation work at Paris\u2019s historic Palais Garnier\u2014opened in 1875 and summoned as inspiration for Gaston Leroux\u2019s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera (and even more famously for Andrew Lloyd Weber\u2019s musical adaptation)\u2014has \u201cthrow[n] a tight schedule of venue closures and the projected budget into disarray,\u201d according […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,226],"class_list":["post-2024589","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-artnews-com","tag-crawlmanager"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2024589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024589\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2024589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2024589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2024589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}