Spectacle of dust: Anselm Kiefer marks 20 years of the Bastille Opera

German artist and sculptor Anselm Kiefer told the Bastille Opera: 'I can only do this if you give me the whole of the Bastille, not just the stage' Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Grey dust settles over the stage Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Verses from the Bible are read aloud Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Biblical lands aside, Am Anfang also evokes the ruins of Baghdad and the destroyed German cities at the end of the second world war Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Tottering towers of a city in a grey desert Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Dust pervades everything Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Jörg Widmann directs the music from the orchestra pit Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Kiefer, looking over the stage Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

'Twelve millennia of bricks are piled up here,' reads the libretto Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris

Kiefer's set seems to go on and on, receding into an endless gloom Photograph: Charles Duprat/Opera National de Paris