The Palace Garnier is a 1,979-seat opera house, which was built from 1861 to 1875 for the Paris Opera. Besides being one of the symbols of Paris, the Opera Garnier is said to be the most famous opera house in the world, partly due to being the setting for Gaston Leroux's 1910 novel "The Phantom of the Opera" and the novel's subsequent adaptations in films and Andrew Lloyd Webber's popular 1986 musical.