In summer, it's always nice to take shelter under a tree to seek some shade. OnAvenue de l'Opéra, however, it's simply impossible - you won't find any until you get down to Place André Malraux! Why this green strangeness in the heart of the capital? Well, you see, it originally contained some, and it must have been following an assassination attempt on a politician that they disappeared overnight!
In 1858, there was clearly some greenery left in the area, since on January 14, an Italian revolutionary, Felice Orsini, carried out an attack on Napoleon III near the Le Peletier opera house, formerly the Opéra National. He and his accomplices hid behind trees and threw bombs into the crowd, resulting in a hundred injuries and eight deaths. It wasn't the first time this had happened, since in 1800, in the same area and against Napoleon Bonaparte this time, another attack was carried out from a tree!
The emperor decided to build a new grand theater on a larger street, less suitable for this type of event. He therefore asked Haussmann tocreate an avenue between the Tuileries Palace, where he lived, and the future Palais Garnier. The opera house's architect liked the idea, but refused to plant any trees. Superstition linked to previous terrorist attacks, or a desire not to conceal his work with greenery?
Whatever the answer, today there are still no trees on the avenue, which was then to be named after Napoleon III, before the fall of the Second Empire in 1870 halted construction, which resumed ten years later and was finally named Avenue de l'Opéra in 1879.
