Beginning with the reign of Louis XIII, the frequency and regularity of theatrical performances had increased: the show was considered as much an entertainment as it was an expression of power.

Richelieu wanted to create an image of the king (and France) that displayed well roundedness in all thing, a society who dabbled not only in politics or court, but music and art and theatre.

In time the royal residences equipped themselves little by little with fixed theatres, although they often continued to use temporary structures and installations one could disassemble in various places, such as galleries, staircases, lounges, and gardens.

Louis XIV's performance during the Ballet Royal de la Nuit, for example, was a statement of his power, his coming of age, and the fact that he was ready to take the throne with no regents.

Louis XIV in particular employed these and similar art forms extensively not only to entertain the noblemen in his court but also to promote his own self-image and the gloire of his country.

During this fête an additional theatre was erected inside the chateau for the presentation of three other plays by Molière: Les Fâcheux, Le Mariage Forcé, and Tartuffe, which premiered in an incomplete, albeit contentious, form.

[13] The Grand Divertissement royal of 1668, which celebrated the end of the War of Devolution, witnessed the construction of a luxurious temporary theater built in the gardens on the site of the future Bassin de Bacchus.

Constructed of papier-mâché, which was either gilded or painted to resemble marble and lapis lazuli, the theater seated 1,200 spectators who attended the debut of Molière's George Dandin ou le Mari confondu on 18 July 1668.

[14] The third fête or, more accurately, a series of six fêtes - Les Divertissments de Versailles - were held in July and August 1674 to celebrate the second conquest of Franche-Comté.

The interior of the theater – known as the salle de la Comédie – contained a semicircle of row seating with loges set into the bays of the lateral walls.

[19] The pièces à machines were theatrical presentations using ballet, opera, and special staging effects that required a theatre that could accommodate the complicated machinery used in the production of these plays.

However, with Louis XIV's dislike for Paris – due in large part to his flight from the Tuileries in 1651 – and his increasing wish to keep his court at Versailles, the King approved the construction of a larger theater in 1685.

When fire destroyed the Grand Écurie and the theatre of the Manège in 1751, and since the salle de la Comédie had become an unfeasible venue due to its size for theatrical productions, Louis XV finally authorized Ange-Jacques Gabriel to design the Opera in 1763.

Ange-Jacques Gabriel reverted to an old design by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and Gaspare Vigarani: the Salle des Ballets, at the far north end of the château, which had been abandoned at the outbreak of the War of the Spanish Succession.

The transition from the auditorium to the stage is managed by the introduction of a giant order of engaged Corinthian columns, with a cornice ranging with the whole Ionic entablature.

[24] Breaking with traditional Italian-style theatres which stacked tiered boxes like chicken coops, two balconies ring the house, topped by an ample colonnade that seems to extend into infinity thanks to a play of mirrors.

Revolutionary journalist Jean-Paul Marat described the banquet as a counter-revolutionary orgy, with the soldiers ripping off the blue-white-red cockades they had been wearing and replacing them with white ones, the color that symbolized the Bourbon monarchy.

In truth, there is no evidence of this act, and actual eyewitnesses and attendees, such as the Queen's lady of the bedchamber Madame Campan, record no such destruction of cockades.

Some of the more memorable uses of the Opera during the reign of Louis XVI included: Originally used only for royal ceremonies and extraordinary performances,[33] this pinnacle of the Gabriel family's work began to be used less and less because of the immense cost to stage productions there.

During the period of its usage, however, it was a beautiful example of royal lavishness and love for theatrical performances, and the fact that attending opera was once again the fashionable thing to do for the upper class, thanks in part to Queen Marie Antoinette's patronage, should not be underestimated.

During the state visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert the Opera Royal was converted into a banquet room for a gala dinner on 25 August 1855.

The Opera was most recently closed in June of 2007 for an extensive two year renovation to bring the backstage and production areas up to safety standards.

During this latest renovation, led by chief architect of Monument historique Frédéric Didiera, a new firewall was installed, the downstage timberframe stairs were restored to their original purpose, stage and lighting equipment were modernized, the technical grid was redone, dressing rooms were moved and brought up to modern standards, and adjacent spaces formerly given over to the Senate, including the Actor's Building, were reclaimed to once again accommodate the needs of performers, workshops, and offices.