Opéra Théâtre (Opera Theatre), Avignon

The Opéra Théâtre of Avignon is one of the city’s top attractions. The venue has been in operation for almost two centuries, since 1847, replacing the original Greco-Roman-style opera house, built on the site in 1824–1825, and destroyed by fire on 26 January 1846.

The current theatre was constructed from 1846 to 1847, designed by two architects from the neighboring town of Nimes, Léon Feuchère and Théodore Charpentier. Upon completion, the new building was praised as the most gracious of the buildings erected in Avignon in the 19th century, and its façade as of a very sure and elegant taste, with the sculptural decoration free from heaviness or triviality.

Initially, the façade carried two statues, of Molière and Pierre Corneille, created by Jean-Louis Brian and his older brother Joseph. Unfortunately, the material chosen for those statues turned out to be not quite weather proof, and so they had to be retired to the Town Hall whilst being replaced with identical copies. The medallions on the façade feature bas-relief busts of King René and Petrarch made by the sculptor Jean-Baptiste-Jules Klagmann.

In 2020, the Avignon Opéra House underwent renovation.