The glass nave
Standing beneath Europe's largest glass roof, its light newly washed by restoration — alone worth the ticket of whatever event runs under it.
daryl_mitchell from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada — CC BY-SA 2.0 · Ștefan Jurcă from Paris, France — CC BY 2.0 · Thesupermat — CC BY-SA 3.0 · Photograph: Eric Pouhier, Modifier: Rainer Zenz, Niabot (last modification) — CC BY-SA 4.0
Yes, for ten exterior minutes: the façade, the bronze quadrigas and Pont Alexandre III make one continuous picture — and the free Petit Palais opposite compensates with its permanent collection.
Twins born for the 1900 Fair: the Grand is a ticketed events-and-exhibitions hall, the Petit is the City of Paris fine-arts museum with a free permanent collection — complementary, not competing.
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The Grand Palais was built for the 1900 World's Fair "to the glory of French art," as its façade declares, and its immense glass roof — Europe's largest glass nave, six thousand tonnes of iron outweighing the Eiffel Tower — has just emerged from the most thorough restoration in its history, crowned by hosting the fencing of the Paris 2024 Olympics in scenes that travelled the world. It is not a museum with a permanent collection but the grandest event hall on earth: blockbuster art exhibitions rotate through its wings, the great international art and fashion fairs convene under the glass nave, and a famous ice rink rises inside it every winter. Your visit therefore depends on the programme — check the official site and book whatever falls on your dates. Even from outside it earns a stop: the classical colonnaded façades, the winged bronze quadrigas on its corners, and a perfect position between the Champs-Élysées, Pont Alexandre III and the free Petit Palais across the street.
Standing beneath Europe's largest glass roof, its light newly washed by restoration — alone worth the ticket of whatever event runs under it.
The grand retrospectives that headline Europe's cultural seasons happen here — if one coincides with your trip, it IS your trip's event.
Each winter the glass hall becomes the world's largest indoor ice rink — a seasonal Paris experience like no other.
Avenue Winston Churchill, 75008 Paris