Grand Palais, Paris

The Grand Palais is an exhibition hall and museum complex whose most striking feature is its vast glass roof. The building combines monumental stonework with intricate metal decoration, giving you a vivid sense of the architecture Art nouveau label supplied for it. Charles Girault coordinated the overall project, while construction began in 1897 for the Universal Exposition of 1900.

The venue opened in 1900 and was created for major official artistic events, though it has also hosted displays devoted to automobiles, aviation, household technology, and other modern inventions. Look at the copper quadrigas crowning the principal entrances: Georges Récipon made them as allegorical chariots, with one expressing Immortality prevailing over Time and the other Harmony triumphing over Discord. The nave stretches for nearly 240 metres, and its transparent roof belongs to the era of grand gathering spaces that relied heavily on daylight.

The palace later served as a military hospital during World War I, and during the Liberation of Paris it became a resistance headquarters before a German attack caused a major fire. Today, its scale still feels theatrical: stone, iron, glass, and sculpture assembled for art on an enormous public stage.