The cost of making the chandelier was 30.000 gold francs. The installation of the central chandelier stirred controversy and was criticized by viewers of the fourth-level boxes for obscuring the stage and the view of the ceiling with the Lenepveu painting. Originally, the chandelier was pulled up to the dome above the auditorium for cleaning; it is now lowered. The space in the dome in the 1960s was used for opera rehearsals. In the 1980s it was converted into two floors for dance rehearsals.
On 20th May 1896, one of the chandelier’s counterweights came free, pierced the ceiling into the auditorium, and killed the concierge (there is a false report that the chandelier fell, killing one person). The incident inspired one of the more famous scenes from Gaston Leroux’s 1910 novel The Phantom of the Opera.
