Petit Palais, Grand Palais

The Petit Palais and the Grand Palais

The Paris audio-guided tour presents you with the Petit Palais and the Grand Palais, two architectural jewels that face each other on either side of the avenue leading to the Pont Alexandre-III.

The legacy of the 1900 Exhibition

The Petit Palais, the Grand Palais and the Pont Alexandre-III were built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900, to mark the entry into the twentieth century. To link them to the Invalides, an avenue crossing the Seine was driven through, whose realisation mobilised some one thousand five hundred workers over three years. The Grand Palais, combining classicism and modernity, unfolds more than seventy thousand square metres and houses the largest nave in Europe, covered with an immense glass roof. The Petit Palais, become the Fine Arts Museum of the City of Paris in 1902, is a fine example of eclectic architecture, where the architect Charles Girault knew how to marry styles and materials. In the year 2000, the ensemble was listed as a historic monument.

What there is to see

The Grand Palais dazzles with its monumental nave and its glass roof, the setting of great events and exhibitions. Opposite, the Petit Palais offers, in an elegant setting, the collections of the Fine Arts Museum of the City of Paris, whose access to the permanent collections and the inner garden is free. The two buildings, with their sculpted façades and their domes, form an ensemble of great beauty, inherited from the golden age of the Universal Exhibitions.

Practical information

The Petit Palais and the Grand Palais are on either side of the Avenue Winston-Churchill, in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, near the Pont Alexandre-III. Access to the permanent collections of the Petit Palais is free; the exhibitions of the Grand Palais follow their own programming and hours, to be checked on site.

Why were the Petit and Grand Palais built?

For the Universal Exhibition of 1900, to celebrate the entry into the twentieth century; they were designed to last and listed as historic monuments in the year 2000.

What can one see at the Petit Palais?

The collections of the Fine Arts Museum of the City of Paris, whose permanent access is free, in a fine example of eclectic architecture.