Palais de Chaillot - 20150801 16h02 (10625)

Paris 75016 Fontaines du Trocadéro 20090815

The Palais de Chaillot () is a building at the top of the in the

Trocadéro The Trocadéro (), site of the Palais de Chaillot, is an area of Paris, France, in the 16th arrondissement, across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower. It is also the name of the 1878 palace which was demolished in 1937 to make way for the Palai ...

area in the 16th ''arrondissement'' of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

, France. For the Exposition Internationale of 1937, the old 1878

Palais du Trocadéro Palais () may refer to: * Dance hall, popularly a ''palais de danse'', in the 1950s and 1960s in the UK * ''Palais'', French for palace **Grand Palais, the Grand Palais des Champs-Elysées **Petit Palais, an art museum in Paris * Palais River in t ...

was partly demolished and partly rebuilt to create the Palais de Chaillot. It was designed in classicising " moderne" style by architects

Louis-Hippolyte Boileau Louis-Hippolyte Boileau (; 1878–1948) was a French architect. Grandson of Louis-Auguste Boileau (1812–1896) and son of Louis-Charles Boileau (1837–1914, architect of the Hôtel Lutetia), Louis-Hippolyte studied at the École nationale supér ...

, Jacques Carlu and Léon Azéma. The Palais consists of two separate wings shaped to form a wide arc, which are those of the former building with new taller portions built in front. The pair of larger central pavilions are also those of the former palais, encapsulated in new construction. The large central hall and towers of the old palais were demolished, leaving only the basement, with a wide esplanade created on top, establishing an open view from the place du Trocadéro to the Eiffel Tower and beyond. The buildings are decorated with quotations by

Paul Valéry Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry (; 30 October 1871 – 20 July 1945) was a French poet, essayist, and philosopher. In addition to his poetry and fiction (drama and dialogues), his interests included aphorisms on art, history, letters, mus ...

, and sculptural groups at the attic level by Raymond Delamarre, Carlo Sarrabezolles and

Alfred Bottiau Alfred-Alphonse Bottiau (6 February 1889 – 25 February 1951) was a French sculptor. He was born in Valenciennes and after early studies in his home town he studied in Paris under Jean Antoine Injalbert and was runner-up for the Prix de Rome f ...

. The eight gilded figures on the terrace of the Rights of Man are attributed to the sculptors

Alexandre Descatoire Alexandre Descatoire (22 August 1874 – 7 March 1949) was a French sculptor. Biography Descatoire was born in Douai and was a pupil of André-Louis-Adolphe Laoust. Educated at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Descatoir ...

Marcel Gimond Marcel Antoine Gimond (1894–1961) was a French sculptor known for his busts, statues, and portraits in bronze. Biography Gimond was born in the Ardèche region of France. He first studied at the ''Beaux-Arts'' Academy in Lyon and was the stu ...

, Jean Paris dit Pryas, Paul Cornet, Lucien Brasseur, Robert Couturier, Paul Niclausse and

Félix-Alexandre Desruelles Félix-Alexandre Desruelles was a French sculptor who was born in Valenciennes in 1865. He was runner up for the Prix de Rome in 1891, won the Prix national des Salons in 1897 and a Gold Medal at l' Exposition Universelle in 1900. He died in La ...

. The buildings now house a number of museums: * the ''

Musée national de la Marine The Musée national de la Marine (National Navy Museum) is a maritime museum located in the Palais de Chaillot, Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. It has annexes at Brest, Port-Louis, Rochefort ( Musée National de la Marine de ...

'' (naval museum) and the ''

Musée de l'Homme The Musée de l'Homme (French, "Museum of Mankind" or "Museum of Humanity") is an anthropology museum in Paris, France. It was established in 1937 by Paul Rivet for the 1937 ''Exposition Internationale des Arts et Techniques dans la Vie Moderne ...

'' (prehistory and anthropology) in the southern (''Passy'') wing, * the ''

Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine The Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (Architecture and Heritage City) is a museum of architecture and monumental sculpture located in the Palais de Chaillot (Trocadéro), in Paris, France. Its permanent collection is also known as Musée n ...

'', including the ''

Musée national des Monuments Français The Musée national des Monuments Français ( en, National Museum of French Monuments) is today a museum of plaster casts of French monuments located in the Palais de Chaillot, 1, place du Trocadéro et du 11 Novembre, Paris, France. It now for ...

'', in the eastern (''Paris'') wing, from which one also enters the ''

Théâtre national de Chaillot The Théâtre National de Chaillot (English: Chaillot National Theatre) is a theatre located in the Palais de Chaillot at 1, place du Trocadéro, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. Close by the Eiffel Tower and the Trocadéro Gardens—the Th� ...

'', a theatre below the esplanade. It was on the front terrace of the palace that

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

was pictured during his short tour of the city in 1940, with the Eiffel Tower in the background. This became an iconic image of the

Second World War 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 vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. On VE Day, 8 May 1945, the U.S. Army in Paris celebrated their victory on the same spot. Over 2800 soldiers, sailors and airmen listened to the victory speech to the troops by President

Harry S. Truman Harry S. Truman (May 8, 1884December 26, 1972) was the 33rd president of the United States, serving from 1945 to 1953. A leader of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the 34th vice president from January to April 1945 under Franklin ...

, and then an address by the ranking officer in Paris, Lt. Gen John C. H. Lee, commanding general of the Com-Z logistics operations of the U.S. Army in Europe since May 1942. In 1948, the Palais de Chaillot hosted the third United Nations General Assembly, and, in 1951, the sixth General Assembly. It is in the Palais de Chaillot that the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

adopted the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt, ...

on 10 December 1948. This event is now commemorated by a stone, and the esplanade is known as the ''esplanade des droits de l'homme'' ("esplanade of human rights"). The Palais de Chaillot was also the initial headquarters of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

, while the "Palais de l'OTAN" (now Université Paris Dauphine) was being built.

References

External links

*
Images of the Palais de Chaillot

The Palais de Chaillot while it was being renovated
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