He decided to leave the hive there and over the years has added more. ”They make more honey here than they do in the countryside,” M. When he came back to pick it up two weeks later, he found it already full of honey. Paucton put the box on the seventh-floor roof at the back of the building and opened the hive. He suggested putting the hives on the roof where the bees wouldn’t bother anyone. The fireman had been raising trout in the building’s huge cistern, a firefighting reservoir and the inspiration for the underground lake in ”Phantom of the Opera”. Jean mentioned his dilemma to the opera house fireman. He was delayed, so he needed somewhere to put the bees as they will only survive in a sealed hive for about 48 hours. Jean had intended to take it to his country house north of Paris. It was delivered to him sealed and full of bees at the Opera Garnier. The school has been teaching Parisians about hives and honey for 150 years.Īlmost thirty years ago, he ordered his first hive. He studied beekeeping at the Jardin du Luxembourg.

Jean Paucton, a retired prop man for the Opera Garnier became interested in bees.

Opera garnier facts