The Palais Garnier is one of Paris’ most famous landmarks. The opulent 1,979-seat opera house in Paris was designed by Charles Garnier at the behest of Napoleon III. With intricate decoration and gilded walls, the theater is birthplace of classical ballet as we know it today. Since its opening in 1875, the building has been the subject of mysteries and rumors of backstage misfortunes, secret passageways, and a hidden underground lake. The Palais Garnier and its rumors served as the inspiration and setting of Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel, The Phantom of the Opera. While backstage tours of the Palais Garnier are available on a limited basis, you won’t find the ballerinas in the attic or stage hands in the cellar that are in Gaston Paris’ photographs from 1937.

In 1937, Gaston Paris, a photojournalist for French magazines Vu and Détective, gained access behind-the-scenes of the famed opera house. His photographs embrace the theater’s mysterious reputation and explore the lesser-known areas. He takes us behind the velvet curtain into the wings of the stage where ballerina’s stretch and prepare. Beyond the stage, he brings us into the theater’s storied rooms including attics, rehearsal spaces, costume storage, and cellars. And of course, the Phantom’s famed underground lake.

While the “lake” is nowhere near as elaborate as portrayed in the Leroux’s novel and subsequent musical adaptations, it is does exist. During construction, the crew hit a hidden arm of the Seine below ground. Despite efforts to pump the water out, it continued to fill the building’s foundation site. The architect adjusted the plans to control the flow of water in cisterns, creating the artificial reservoir underneath the opera house. Although the water isn’t nearly as magical or romantic as portrayed in the musical, it does contain live fish, which the opera staff enjoy feeding.

Gaston Paris photographed performers, stage crew, and staff as well as some of the theater’s architectural details. Among his photographs is a crystal-laden chandelier. One of the more infamous real life events that inspired the legend of the Phantom involved the chandelier’s counterweight falling into the audience, killing a concierge. Paris’ documentary style doesn’t play up the theater’s reputation for mystery and misfortune, instead taking an evidence-based approach of life in the Opera.