Grand Palais

The Grand Palais ("Grand Palace") is a large glass exhibition hall that was built for the Paris Exhibition of 1900. It is located in the VIIIe arrondissement of Paris, France.

Built at the same time as the Petit Palais and the Pont Alexandre III, the exterior of this massive palace combines an imposing Classical stone façade with a riot of Art Nouveau ironwork, and a number of allegorical statue groups including work by Paul Gasq and Alfred Boucher.

The building was closed for 12 years for extensive restoration work after one of the glass ceiling panels fell in 1993. It reopened on Saturday 24 September, 2005.

A little known fact is that the Grand Palais has a major police station in the basement which helps protect the exhibits on show in the Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, and particularly the picture exhibition "Salons" as the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux Arts, Salon d'Automne and Salon "Comparaisons". The building also contains a science museum, the Palais de la Découverte.

The high end fashion house Chanel shows many shows every year located here.

External links

* [http://www.grandpalais.fr/ Grand Palais - official Website]
* [http://paris1900.lartnouveau.com/paris08/le_grand_palais.htm The Grand Palais] - current photographs and of the years 1900.