Which French president opened the Opéra Bastille on 13 July 1989?

François Mitterrand opened the Opéra Bastille on 13 July 1989.

The inauguration was timed for the eve of the 200th anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. It formed part of the grand celebrations of the French Revolution's bicentenary and showcased Mitterrand's effort to give Paris a new, technologically advanced opera venue.

The building was designed by Carlos Ott after an international competition and was one of the president's Grands Travaux. Its inaugural event was not a normal full opera performance: it featured a semi-staged gala titled La Nuit avant le jour, directed by Robert Wilson and conducted by Georges Prêtre.

The theatre was still unfinished when Mitterrand inaugurated it, a detail that often causes confusion. The first regular opera performance came months later, on 17 March 1990, with Hector Berlioz's Les Troyens. The Opéra Bastille subsequently became the Paris National Opera's principal venue for many large-scale opera productions, while the Palais Garnier continued to host opera and ballet.