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See also: born in See also: Paris on the 6th of See also: November 1825
.
He was educated in a See also: primary school, and it was intended that he should pursue his See also: father's craft, that of a wheelwright
.
His See also: mother, however, having heard that with a little previous study he might enter an architect's office and eventually become a measuring surveyor (verificateur), and See also: earn as much as six francs a See also: day, and foreseeing that in consequence of his delicate See also: health he would be unfit to See also: work at the forge, sent him to learn See also: drawing and See also: mathematics at the Petite Ecole de Dessin, in the rue de Medecine, the cradle of so many of the See also: great artists of See also: France
.
His progress was such as to justify his being sent first into an architect's office and then to the well-known atelier of Lebas, where he began his studies in preparation for the examination of the Ecole See also: des See also: Beaux Arts, which he passed in 1842, at the age of seventeen
.
Shortly after his See also: admission it became necessary that he should support himself, and accordingly he worked during the day in various architects' offices, among them in that of M
.
See also: Viollet-le-Duc, and confined his studies for the Ecole to the evening
.
In 1848 he carried off, at the early age of twenty-three, the See also: Grand Prix de See also: Rome, and with his comrades in sculpture, See also: engraving and See also: music, set off for the See also: Villa de Medicis
.
His See also: principal See also: works were the measured drawings of the Forum of Trajan and the See also: temple of See also: Vesta in Rome, and the temple of See also: Serapis at See also: Pozzuoli
.
In the fifth See also: year of his travelling student-See also: ship he went to Athens and measured the temple at See also: Aegina, subsequently working out a See also: complete restoration of it, with its polychromatic decoration, which was published as a monograph in 1877
.
The elaborate set of drawings which he was commissioned by the duc de See also: Luynes to make of the tombs of the See also: house of See also: Anjou were not published, owing to the See also: death of his See also: patron; and since See also: Garnier's death they have been given to the library of the Ecole des Beaux Arts, along with other drawings he made in See also: Italy
.
On his return to Paris in 1853 he was appointed surveyor to one or two See also: government buildings, with a very moderate See also: salary, so that the commission given him by M
.
Victor See also: Baltard to make two See also: water-colour drawings of the Hotel de Ville, to he placed in the See also: album presented to See also: Queen See also: Victoria in 1855, on the occasion of her visit to Paris, proved very acceptable
.
These two drawings are now in the library at Windsor . In 186o came, at last, Garnier's chance: a competition was announced for a design for a new imperialSee also: academy of music, and out of 163 competitors Garnier was one of five selected for a second competition, in which, by unanimous See also: vote, he carried off the first prize, and the execution of the design was placed in his hands
.
Begun in 1861, but delayed in its completion by the Franco-See also: German War, it was not till 1875 that the structure of the See also: present Grand See also: Opera House of Paris was finished, at a 'cost of about 35,000,000 francs (£I,42o,000)
.
During the war the See also: building was utilized as the municipal storehouse of provisions
.
The See also: staircase and the magnificent See also: hall are the finest portion of the interior, and alike in conception and realization have never been approached
.
Of Garnier's other works, the most remarkable are the
See also: Casino at See also: Monte Carlo, the Bischoffsheim villa at See also: Bordighera, the Hotel du Cercle de la Librairie in Paris; and, among tombs, those of the musicians Bizet, Offenbach, Masse and Duprato
.
In 1874 he was elected a member of the Institute of France, and after passing through the grades of chevalier, officer and See also: commander of the See also: Legion of Honour, received in 1895 the See also: rank of grand officer, a high distinction that had never before been granted to an architect
.
See also: Charles Garnier's reputation was notconfined to France; it was recognized by all the countries of
See also: Europe, and in See also: England he received, in 1886, the royal gold medal of the Royal Institute of Architects, given by Queen Victoria
.
Besides his monograph on the temple of Aegina, he wrote several works, of which Le Nouvel Opera de Paris is the most valuable
.
For the See also: International See also: Exhibition of 1889 he designed the buildings illustrating the " See also: History of the House " in all periods, and a work on this subject was afterwards published by him in conjunction with M
.
Ammann
.
Not the least of his claims to the gratitude of his country were the services which he rendered on the various See also: art juries appointed by the See also: state, the Institute of France, and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, services which in France are rendered in an honorary capacity
.
Garnier died on the 3rd of See also: August 1898
.
(R
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