Grand Palais

Located just off the Champs-Élysées, the Grand Palais is part of the 'Banks of the Seine' World Heritage site. It was built for the Paris world’s fair of 1900: the Exposition Universelle. Following an architectural competition, the building was created by four designers: Henri Deglane, Albert Louvet, Albert Thomas and Charles Girault. It was the last of the great exhibition halls built before the general use of electric light and was constructed in iron and steel with a magnificent barrel-vaulted glass hall, 240 metres long. A stone façade in Beaux-Arts style featured works by leading sculptors. The interiors were an exercise in Art Nouveau. The exposition site covered 112 hectares in central Paris and included specialist exhibitions, national pavilions and the Eiffel Tower. The Grand Palais was concerned with fine art but the Exposition Universelle was an influential showcase for technological innovations and industrial products, including optics, escalators and moving pavements, trolleybuses, diesel engines, electric cars and other new electrical devices. An authentic renovation began in 2021 to create a hub for events and exhibitions.