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The Grand Palais des Champs-Élysées ( en, Great Palace of the Elysian Fields), commonly known as the Grand Palais (
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ...
: Great Palace), is a historic site, exhibition hall and
museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make th ...
complex located at the Champs-Élysées in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, France. Construction of the Grand Palais began in 1897 following the demolition of the Palais de l'Industrie (Palace of Industry) to prepare for the Universal Exposition of 1900. That exposition also produced the adjacent Petit Palais and
Pont Alexandre III The Pont Alexandre III is a deck arch bridge that spans the Seine in Paris. It connects the Champs-Élysées quarter with those of the Invalides and Eiffel Tower. The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the ci ...
. The building was designed to be a large-scale venue for official artistic events. A pediment on the building refers to this function with an inscription that reads, "a monument dedicated by the Republic to the glory of French art." Designed according to Beaux-Arts tastes, the building features ornate stone facades, glass vaults and period innovations that included
iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...
and light steel framing and reinforced concrete. It is listed as a historic monument ('' monument historique)'' by the Ministry of Culture. Grand Palais


History

The decision to hold the Universal Exposition of 1900 in Paris revealed deep divisions within the French Republic. Critics viewed the project as an economic drain that pulled resources away from provincial governments and questioned the benefit that it would bring to the French economy as a whole. These concerns extended to the planning and construction of the Grand Palais. Unlike plans for the Trocadéro or the Garnier opera house, only French architects were considered for the project. The final decision was announced on 22 April 1896, with a contract awarded to four people, each with a distinct area of responsibility:
Henri Deglane Henri Deglane (22 June 1902 – 7 July 1975) was a French wrestler. He was an Olympic Champion in Greco-Roman wrestling and AWA World Champion. In May 1931, Deglane faced Ed "Strangler" Lewis for the AWA World Heavyweight Championsh ...
, Albert Louvet, Albert Thomas and Charles Girault. The grand opening was held on 1 May 1900. From the very beginning the palace was the site of different kinds of shows in addition to the intended art exhibitions. These included a riding competition that took place annually from 1901 to 1957, but were mainly dedicated to innovation and modernity: the automobile, aviation, household appliances, and so on. The golden age of the art exhibitions as such lasted for some thirty years, while the last took place in 1947. The first major
Henri Matisse Henri Émile Benoît Matisse (; 31 December 1869 – 3 November 1954) was a French visual artist, known for both his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He was a draughtsman, printmaker, and sculptor, but is known prim ...
retrospective after his death was held at the Grand Palais. The main space, almost 240 metres long, was constructed with an iron, steel and glass barrel-vaulted roof, making it the last of the large transparent structures inspired by London’s Crystal Palace that were necessary for large gatherings of people before the age of electricity. The main space was originally connected to the other parts of the palace along an east-west axis by a grand staircase in a style combining Classical and Art Nouveau, but the interior layout has since been somewhat modified. 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 sculptors Paul Gasq,
Camille Lefèvre Camille Lefèvre (1853–1933) was a French sculptor. Biography Born in Issy-les-Moulineaux, in 1870 Lefèvre became a pupil of Jules Cavelier at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1878, he won the second Prix d ...
, Alfred Boucher, Alphonse-Amédée Cordonnier and
Raoul Verlet Charles Raoul Verlet (7 September 1857, Angoulême - 1 December 1923, Cannes) was a French sculptor and art professor. Biography His father was the concierge at the Angoulême cemetery. He initially sculpture in Bordeaux, from 1884 to 1886, the ...
. A monumental bronze quadriga by
Georges Récipon Georges Récipon (January 17, 1860 - May 2, 1920), son of the Odiot goldsmith / silversmith Paul Edmond Récipon (1832–1898),Suppl. Larousse Illustré, editions before 1920 was a French painter and sculptorExhibition Document, Musée du Chatea ...
tops each wing of the main façade. The one on the Champs-Élysées side depicts Immortality prevailing over Time, the one on the Seine side Harmony triumphing over Discord. The structure had problems that started even before it was completed, mainly as a result of subsidence caused by a drop in the water table. The builders attempted to compensate for this subsidence, and for a tendency of the ground to shift, by sinking supporting posts down to firmer soil, since construction could not be delayed. These measures were only partially successful. Further damage occurred once the building was in use. Excessive force applied to structural members during the installation of certain exhibitions such as the Exposition Internationale de la Locomotion Aérienne caused damage, as did acid runoff from the horse shows. Additional problems due to the construction of the building itself revealed themselves over the course of time. Differential rates of expansion and contraction between cast iron and steel members, for example, allowed for water to enter, leading to corrosion and further weakening. When finally one of the glass ceiling panels fell in 1993, the main space had to be closed for restoration work, and was not fully reopened to the public until 2007.


Wartime and the Palais

The Palais served as a military hospital during
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, employing local artists who had not been deployed to the front to decorate hospital rooms or to make moulds for prosthetic limbs. The
Nazi Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
s put the Palais to use during the
Occupation of France The Military Administration in France (german: Militärverwaltung in Frankreich; french: Occupation de la France par l'Allemagne) was an interim occupation authority established by Nazi Germany during World War II to administer the occupied zo ...
in
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
. First used as a truck depot, the Palais then housed two Nazi propaganda exhibitions. The Parisian resistance used the Grand Palais as a headquarters during the Liberation of Paris. On 23 August 1944 an advancing German column was fired upon from a window on the Avenue de Sèlves, and the Germans responded with a tank attack upon the Palais. The attack ignited hay that was set up for a circus show, and over the next 48 hours, thick black smoke from the fire caused serious damage to the building. By 26 August, American jeeps were parked in the nave, followed by tanks from the French 2nd Armored Division, completing the liberation of the building.


Grand Palais today

The Grand Palais has a major police station in the basement whose officers help protect the exhibits on show in the
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais The galeries nationales du Grand Palais (Grand Palais National Galleries) are museum spaces located in the Grand Palais in the 8th arrondissement of Paris The 8th arrondissement of Paris (''VIIIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissem ...
, particularly the picture exhibition "salons": the Salon de la Société Nationale des Beaux Arts,
Salon d'Automne The Salon d'Automne (; en, Autumn Salon), or Société du Salon d'automne, is an art exhibition held annually in Paris, France. Since 2011, it is held on the Champs-Élysées, between the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais, in mid-October. The ...
, and Salon Comparaisons. The building's west wing also contains a
science museum A science museum is a museum devoted primarily to science. Older science museums tended to concentrate on static displays of objects related to natural history, paleontology, geology, industry and industrial machinery, etc. Modern trends in ...
, the Palais de la Découverte. It was the host venue of the
2010 World Fencing Championships The 2010 World Fencing Championships were held at the Grand Palais in Paris, France 4–13 November. Medal table Men's events Women's events Participating nations A record of 110 nations competed, with many making their debuts includin ...
. For the 2011 Monumenta exhibition (11 May to 23 June), sculptor Anish Kapoor was commissioned to create the temporary indoor site-specific installation, ''Leviathan'', an enormous (ca. 775,000 square feet) structure that filled half of the main exhibition hall of the Grand Palais. It was used during the final stage of the Tour de France in 2017, as part of the promotion for Paris' 2024 Summer Olympics bid. The riders rode through the Palais en route to the
Champs Élysées Champs may refer to: Music * The Champs, a U.S. instrumental music group * Champs (Brazilian band), a Brazilian boy band * Champs (British band), a British folk- and indie rock-influenced band * The Fucking Champs, a U.S. progressive heavy meta ...
. The Grand Palais temporarily closed to the public in March 2021 for significant renovation works. It will re-open in time for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, where it will host the
fencing Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, ...
and taekwondo events. It is planned that the Grand Palais will re-open to the public in the Spring of 2025.While it is shut, exhibitions that would otherwise be held there will be hosted by other locations, such as the Grand Palais Éphémère and the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris and the Palais de la Bourse in Marseille.


See also

* List of most visited art museums *
List of most visited museums This article lists the most-visited museums which reported attendance figures for 2021, followed by other museums with large numbers of annual visitors in 2020 and 2019 but no reported 2021 figures. A museum is defined as a building or institutio ...
* Petit Palais * Palais de la Découverte * Pont Alexandre-III * Louis Levacher *
Félix Charpentier Félix Charpentier (10 January 1858 in Bollène in Vaucluse – 1924) was a French sculptor. His work was part of the sculpture event in the art competition at the 1924 Summer Olympics. Biography Félix Charpentier's father worked in a brick m ...
, maker of a Grand Palais sculpture.


Notes

This article contains material abridged and translated from the French and Spanish ''Wikipedia''.


External links


Official Grand Palais website


current photographs, and photographs from the 1900s.
Photos from the rooftops of the Grand Palais
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Paris Exposition Universelle (1900) Buildings and structures in the 8th arrondissement of Paris Buildings and structures completed in 1900 Monuments historiques of Paris Art Nouveau architecture in Paris Beaux-Arts architecture in France Historicist architecture in France Neoclassical architecture in France World's fair architecture in Paris Art Nouveau museum buildings Museums in Paris Réunion des Musées Nationaux Venues of the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic fencing venues Olympic taekwondo venues