Grand Palais, Paris

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From the Pont Alexandre III you can clearly see the impressive glass roof of the Grand Palais, which made me curious enough to follow the Avenue Winston Churchill to have a closer look at it. I really would love to see this building in the evenings when the roof is all lite up, that must be fantastic. Unfortunately my time in Paris was too limited to squeeze that, but that gives me something to look forward to on a next visit.

The Grand Palais was build at the same time as the Pont Alexandre III, in 1900 and is an impressive example of early 20th century Art Noveau. It is a large glass exhibition hall, built for the Paris Exhibition. Besides these exhibitions, the Grand Palais also hosts trade fairs and a museum: the Palais de la Découverte. Here you can discover the world of elementary and new sciences through hands-on interactive experiences.

This building was built for Paris exhibition of 1900 at the same time as Petit Palais and Pont Alexander III. It is on of the largest glass exhibition hall in the Paris. In the basement of the building there is police station which helps protect picture exhibition on show. 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.

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The Grand Palais or Grand Palace is built at the same time with the Petit Palais and the Pont Alexandre III. The exterior of the enormous palace is an combination of an impressive classical façade of stone and Art Nouveau ironwork. The building has an striking roof of glass and huge bronze statues of flying horses.

The large glass exhibition hall, built for the Paris Exhibition Universelle of 1900 houses the Galeries Nationales du Grna Palais. The building has been closed for 12 years for restoration work, but is reopened on in september 2005, jsut one month after I visited this place again.

The Grand Palais (Large Palace) and the Petit Palais (Small Palace) were both built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, along with the nearby Alexandre III Bridge across the Seine.

The most unusual feature of the Grand Palais is its roof, which is a huge glass and steel dome – the largest such structure in the world, evidently, since the Crystal Palace in London burned down in 1936.

In the second half of the twentieth century the Grand Palais made a rather dismal and neglected impression, and there were structural problems caused partly by the falling level of the ground water.

In 1993 a rivet from the iron framework of the glass ceiling fell down during an exhibition. The building was closed for ten years after that, and has been elaborately restored.

One wing of the building houses a popular science museum (Palais de la Découverte) and the main part of the building is now again being used for temporary exhibitions, typically lasting four to five months.

Next review from January 2012: Petit Palais

First I thought both palaces are old because they’re situated in the center of the city. As it turned out both palaces were built in 1900, to the opening of the world exhibition in Paris. In Big Palace the theatre performance and paintings exhibitions take place. In Small Palace there is Paris collection that has sculptures and paintings.

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The Grand Palais (Great Palace) is a large museum complex located at the Champs-Elysees. Construction of the Grand Palais began in 1897 as part of the preparation works for the Universal Exposition of 1900, which also included the creation of the adjacent Petit Palais and Pont Alexandre III.

Open: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.
Late night opening: Wednesday 10 p.m.
Closed: Tuesday, 01/01, 01/05, 25/12

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In my first trip to Paris the small palace was under reconstruction works and I even couldn't see the facade of the palace. Fortunately I could see the wonderful small palace decoration during my second visit to the city. It is really beautiful.

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We ventured into an art exhibit at the Grand Palais and saw some pretty interesting modern art. Here is a picture of Mickey Mouse as you probably won't see him at Disneyland Paris. The building is beautiful and as interesting from the inside as from the outside.