A history of the City of Nice Opera House

From the theatre of the Seigneurs de Maccarani to the fire of 1881

The little wooden theatre of 1776

The marchioness Alli-Maccarani obtained authorisation from Amédée III, King of Sardinia, under whose jurisdiction the county of Nice lay, to transform her old home into a theatre.  The little Théâtre Maccarani, named after its owners, was thus born in 1776, built completely out of wood, on the present site of Nice Opera House. The north face of the building gave onto the town, while the south faced the ramparts of the Quai du Midi, today called the Quai des États-Unis.

A new Opera House in 1826

The theatre was bought up by the town of Nice in 1826 on the advice of King Charles Félix, and demolished to build a grand Italian style opera house in its place.

The design of the building, with its spacious floor and no seats, as was the tradition of the day, four tiers of boxes where the moneyed public could sit comfortably, and a large royal box supported by two golden caryatids, was down to Brunati, town architect, and Perotti, an architect from Turin.

In front of the stage was an immense frescoed curtain, figuring the exploits of Catherine Ségurane, the Nice heroine.

At the back of the stage, which faced south as it does today, was a vast bay window giving onto the sea. This bay window was bricked up in 1866 and a gigantic sundial was put up in its place on the wall facing the Quai du Midi.

In 1870 the Opera House became the Municipal Theatre.

I88l : drama

On Wednesday 23rd March 1881, during the opening of "Lucia de Lammermoor", disaster suddenly struck. A gas explosion, the curtains caught fire, the lights went out. The corridors were in darkness and everyone panicked. A terrible fire, caused most probably by a gas leak in the footlights of the stage, destroyed the theatre.

The new Theatre in 1885

On November 7th 1882, the town decided to rebuild the theatre on the same site and put François Aune, an architect from Nice, in charge of the plans.

François Aune, born in 1814,  graduated as a surveyor in Turin before being appointed architect for the town. His plans for the new opera house were approved by Charles Garnier, the then inspector for Civil Buildings.

The External Construction

François Aune, a student of Gustave Eiffel, built a traditional masonry external structure of stone, brick and limestone inside which he erected a structure of metal girders.

The Interior Decoration

The decoration of the auditorium and the stage resulted from a compromise between local traditions of Nice, the growing influence of Francophiles and the aesthetic demands of a cosmopolitan audience.

The synthesis of these diverse currents was down to an architect who had been trained in the Turin school and “crossbred”, as he was sometimes accused of being, with Parisian influences. From the outset, the specifications dictated that the auditorium would be in the Italian style. Thus the boxes, in the form of small intimate rooms opened onto the auditorium and gave the appearance of a wall with multiple bays.

Freedom was given to everyone to participate in the show, according to a philosophy that emphasizes individual autonomy, without upsetting the collective comfort.

The new theatre was decorated magnificently with a painted ceiling, by Emmanuel Costa, representing the Chariot of the Sun.

Sculptures by Raimondi represent the Muses: Euterpe (music), Melpomene (tragedy), Thalia (comedy) and Terpsichore (dance).

In 1902, the Municipal Theatre became known by its current name: Opera de Nice.

The Opera today

A few elements have changed in this building since its construction.

The main entrance, which opened into a wide staircase in the rotunda of the Opera house, was transferred to Rue Saint-François-de-Paule.

Similarly the proscenium was made smaller, the large chandelier removed and then reinstated (with its 600 bulbs) in 1960, the pit expanded, and the paintings in the entrance replaced by large mirrors.

The stage was rebuilt and modernized in 1979. Today the orchestra pit, with its sliding platform, creates space for a significantly larger number of concert musicians and so allows the interpretation of a larger repertoire.

The Opera House became listed as a historic monument in 1993.

Since then, extensive work to restore the interior and exterior has been undertaken. The first phase focused on safety, the second phase on the renovation of facades and roof, while the final phase concerned the restoration of the interior. The building was restored to its architectural identity in 2000.