The Grand Palais Is Set to Reopen in Time for the Olympics

04.06.2024 - 21:47 / cntraveler.com / Art Basel

The year was 1900, and a young debutante was about to enter the Paris high society. Fresh out of finishing school, she was already making heads spin with her steely Beaux-Arts ensemble and vaulted glass crown.

From the moment she arrived on the scene, the Grand Palais was admired—for the scale of architecture and that magnificent glass roof, the largest in Europe. Over the course of her century-long existence, this grande dame became an emblem of French grandeur, hosting extravagant cultural moments from fashion shows to theatrical events, blockbuster art exhibitions, even equestrian shows. Then, in December 2020, exhausted from decades of a high-octane social calendar, she retired to her dressing room for a rest.

For the first time, the building will be open for longer periods of the day, so people can experience the shifting light under its glass roof.

This summer, those doors will swing open once more, spurred on by a little-known event called the Summer Olympics. In July, the Grand Palais will host the Games’ fencing and taekwondo competitions. Then, in October, it will officially reopen to the public with Art Basel’s Paris offshoot, followed by the 27th edition of Paris Photo in early November.

The historical monument has lived many lives since its debut at the 1900 Paris Exposition, or as it is known in French, the Exposition Universelle. During World War I, the Nave under that glass roof was converted into a military hospital with a thousand beds. During World War II, when northern France was under German occupation, it was requisitioned to act as a truck depot and housed two exhibitions devoted to Nazi propaganda. In the 1960s, the building even found itself on the receiving end of the ire of French architect Le Corbusier, who wanted to raze and replace it with a modern art museum. (The matter resolved itself when shortly thereafter, he passed away.)

Now, the building is 124 years old, and entering what Didier Fusillier, president of the Grand Palais, calls its festive era. Fusillier says we can expect “more Instagrammable” exhibitions, more concerts, and more parades, but also more moments of quiet. “I would love for the Grand Palais to become a meeting place,” he said over Zoom. “[The kind of place] where you don’t mind waiting for someone who’s late to meet you, because [the Grand Palais] is beautiful, joyful, and vast.”

For the first time ever, the building will be open during the summer, as well as for longer periods of the day, so people can experience the light changing under the glass roof. “We want to work with the sun,” says Fusillier. “We can see the sunrise and we can see the sunset at the Grand Palais, because we are right under the sky.”

The Nave’s indoor plaza will be made open