Moulin Rouge in Paris for Valentine's

Paris was still marvelling at the Eiffel Tower when a red windmill and a giant elephant stole the conversation.

On 5 October 1889, impresarios Charles Zidler and Joseph Oller opened the Moulin Rouge at the foot of the Montmartre hill. Paris was in the grip of Exposition Universelle fever; the Eiffel Tower had opened five months earlier. Zidler and Oller saw an opportunity to create something entirely new: a music hall where all social classes could mix, drink, and watch the cancan. The venue's garden featured a giant elephant, and the interior was designed as a lavish dance hall. It was an instant sensation. Within months, the Moulin Rouge had become the talk of Paris.

A reserved table and a standing invitation; the cabaret got its soul, the artist got his legend.

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, a regular at the venue, produced his first poster for the Moulin Rouge in 1891. His lithograph of dancer La Goulue became one of the most recognisable images of the era. Zidler had given Toulouse-Lautrec a standing invitation and a reserved table; in return, the artist gave the cabaret an identity that transcended entertainment and entered the realm of fine art. Those posters, with their bold colours and flattened perspectives, did more for the Moulin Rouge's brand than any advertising campaign since. They now hang in museums worldwide.

Her legs were worth half a million francs; the rest of her owned Paris for thirty years.

Mistinguett, born Jeanne Florentine Bourgeois, made her Moulin Rouge debut and quickly became the venue's defining star. Her legs were famously insured for 500,000 francs, and her partnership with dancer Max Dearly in the "Valse chaloupée" became the most talked-about act in Paris. She would dominate the Moulin Rouge and Parisian cabaret for the next three decades, earning the title "Queen of the Paris Night."

War silenced Paris's great stage; the ruins smouldered on the boulevard for years, untouched.

On 27 February 1915, a fire gutted the Moulin Rouge. With the First World War raging, reconstruction was not a priority. The building sat in ruins for years, a charred shell on the boulevard. Paris had other concerns.

Rebuilt for a thousand guests and ready for Josephine Baker; the new Moulin Rouge wasted no time reclaiming Paris.

The Moulin Rouge was rebuilt and reopened in 1921, redesigned as a grand theatre rather than the open dance hall of its first incarnation. The new venue seated over a thousand and was equipped for elaborate stage productions. It quickly reclaimed its position as the centre of Parisian nightlife. The Roaring Twenties were kind to the Moulin Rouge. Mistinguett returned, Josephine Baker performed, and the venue became a magnet for the international set.

The kitchen and the stage became one offering; cinema never stood a chance.

Under new management, the Moulin Rouge was transformed into the dinner-and-show format that visitors know today. The auditorium was redesigned with tiered seating around a central stage, and the kitchen began serving full French menus to accompany the performances. It was a shrewd pivot: rather than competing with cinemas and jazz clubs, the Moulin Rouge became an evening-long experience.

Doris Haug's troupe took rhinestones and feathers far beyond Montmartre; one choreographer rewrote the Moulin Rouge's identity for generations.

The Moulin Rouge launched a series of spectacular revues choreographed by Doris Haug, who would shape the venue's artistic direction for decades. The Doriss Girls, her troupe of international dancers, became synonymous with the Moulin Rouge's style: precision choreography, towering headdresses, and costumes dripping with rhinestones and feathers. The shows toured internationally, spreading the Moulin Rouge name far beyond Montmartre.

Eight million euros and 60 dancers bought the Moulin Rouge twenty-five years of relevance.

On 23 December 1999, the Moulin Rouge premiered "Féerie," a revue featuring over 1,000 costumes designed by Corrado Collabucci, an aquarium built into the stage, and a troupe of 60 Doriss Dancers. The show cost an estimated 8 million euros to produce. It was designed to carry the Moulin Rouge into the 21st century, and it did exactly that. "Féerie" ran for over two decades, seen by millions of visitors from around the world, before being succeeded by a new show in 2024.

Baz Luhrmann's film took $179 million at the box office and sent curious audiences flocking to the real venue's ticket queue.

Baz Luhrmann's "Moulin Rouge!" starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor brought the cabaret's mythology to cinema screens worldwide. The film won two Academy Awards and grossed over $179 million. While it was a fictional love story rather than a documentary, it reignited global fascination with the real venue. Ticket demand at the real Moulin Rouge surged in the years following the film's release. A Broadway musical adaptation followed in 2019, winning ten Tony Awards.

Six hundred thousand visitors a year, two sold-out shows a night; the old windmill is not done yet.

After 25 years, "Féerie" took its final bow and the Moulin Rouge unveiled a new revue. The venue also made headlines in April 2024 when the blades of its iconic windmill fell off during the night, though they were swiftly restored. At 135 years old, the Moulin Rouge continues to sell out two shows nightly, welcoming around 600,000 visitors each year. The red windmill still turns. The champagne still flows. And the cancan, 135 years on, still brings the house down.