Paris 2014: The Odeon Theatre

Both the the neighborhood between Blvd St Germain and the Luxembourg Gardens and the local Metro stop on St Germain get their name from a theater two blocks from the apartment where we lived during our three-weeks in Paris last May. The official name of the theater is Odéon-Théatre de l’Europe and it is one of six national theaters in France.

The original theater was built between 1779 and 1782. The theater was reconstructed in 1808 but burned down in 1818. The present building was designed by Pierre Thomas Baraguay and opened in 1819.

This photo of the theater will be my entry this week for Laura and Leanne’s Monochrome Madness Challenge over on Leanne’s website.

Odéon-Théatre de l’Europe.

Place de l’Odéon is a block from the Luxembourg Palace and a block east of Rue de Condé. The back of the building is kitty-corner across Rue de Vaugirard from the Palace. Whenever we passed by we saw motorcycles and motor scooters parked along the perimeter of the square (actually a semicircle). And the outdoor cafe within the semicircle was usually crowded.

Plays are usually produced in the original language but the production of Shakespeare’s Henry VI next year will be in French. Cyrano de Bergerac, written by Edmond Rostand in 1897, was playing when we were there.