the larger number of the audience, before entering the auditorium, traverse a large circular vestibule located exactly beneath it.
the ceiling of this portion of the building is upheld by sixteen fluted columns of jura stone, with white marble capitals, forming a portico.
here servants are to await their masters, and spectators may remain until their carriages are summoned.the third entrance, which is quite distinct from the others, is reserved for the executive.
the section of the building set aside for the use of the emperor napoleon was to have included an antechamber for the bodyguards;a salon for the aides-de-camp; a large salon and a smaller one for the empress; hat and cloak rooms, etc.moreover, there were to be in close proximity to the entrance, stables for three coaches, for the outriders' horses, and for the twenty-one horsemen acting as an escort; a station for a squad of infantry of thirty-one men and ten cent-gardes, and a stable for the horses of the latter;and, besides, a salon for fifteen or twenty domestics.thus arrangements had to be made to accommodate in this part of the building about one hundred persons, fifty horses, and half-a-dozen carriages.
the fall of the empire suggested some changes, but ample provision still exists for emergencies.