It was open house weekend in Paris this weekend (Journées Européennes du Patrimoine), so we decided to visit the Athenée theatre, which was celebrating its 25th anniversary of public service.



The Athenée is a small but sweet theatre taken over by the government in 1982, and on Sunday they had a special open day for the general public, but just for one day! Apparently, the theatre sent out a general message to try and get in contact with all the people who have worked there over the years. Each former employee who came was allowed to walk up a pink (!) carpet, have his/her photo taken, have his/her name read out over a loudspeaker and was given a rose.

There was special lighting in the main auditorium and voices of actors coming from all corners, reciting text.

It was great to be able to roam about the place. A theatre with a huge chandelier, all decked out in red velvet, is really spectacular.

Check out all the photos here.

Later in the year there will also be an exhibition of photos, drawings, models, costumes and films based on the history of the theatre at the old National Library, 58 rue de Richelieu 75oo2 Paris. The exhibition runs from 13th November – 30th December 2007. You’ll find the opening times here (scroll down to “site Richelieu”).

For the official Théâtre Athenée site, click here.