On June 23, 1940, Hitler paid a visit to the capital with his personal architect, Speer, so that the latter could draw inspiration from Paris for the project called Welthauptstadt Germania—“Germania, capital of the world.” Adolf Hitler wanted to turn Berlin into a model city, reproducing Europe’s greatest monuments but on a scale ten times greater than the originals, including the Champs-Élysées and the Arc de Triomphe. His favorite building was the Opéra Garnier, with its neo-Baroque architecture.
