The Salle du Soleil and the Salamander

The Salle du Soleil, or Sun Room, was decorated by Auguste Rubé and Philippe Chaperon, the decorators who made the theater's curtain. As the name suggests, the ceiling shows the sun, its rays spreading in every direction.

At the center of the ceiling is a salamander, an animal from medieval European legend. At a glance it looks like a lizard, and the fire-breathing, lizard-like character in Disney's Frozen is said to be a salamander too. The salamander is an imaginary creature whose body temperature is so low that it can put out fire with its own body, which is why it could be painted amid flames at the very center of the sun.