Visiting Paris in the next few years? Thanks to donations by Chanel and the French government, you'll be able to tour a newly refurbished Grand Palais. The iconic glass-domed building on the Champs-Élysées, which has served France as a cultural centerpiece—museum complex, exhibition center, fashion destination—since its construction in 1900, is getting a major renovation, according to Lonely Planet. With €500 million ($621.835 million) committed, this will be the first major update the Palais has gotten since its creation. The project begins December 2020 and is expected to wrap up by the 2024 Summer Olympics, when the Palais will host fencing and taekwondo events.
Per Lonely Planet, the facelift will include two new auditoriums, a rooftop terrace, and a pedestrian walkway known as Rue de Palais, which will run through the building and connect a garden overlooking the Seine with Avenue des Champs-Élysées. The grand entrance will also be renamed after Coco Chanel, a nod to the label's longstanding relationship with the building. Since 2005, Chanel's ready-to-wear and couture collections have been shown annually in the exhibition space—complete with spectacular installations like a replica of the Eiffel Tower, a rocket and launchpad, and a forest. The fashion house will contribute €30 million ($37.3 million) to the Palais's updates, and will undoubtedly continue to present in the building once it reopens.
The Grand Palais also hosts some major artistic moments in Paris—among them, Fiac, Paris Photo, and the Biennale, which will have to relocate their 2021 editions while construction is underway, according to The Art Newspaper. The Réunion des Musées Nationaux, which runs the building, expects the cultural experience of the Palais to be heightened post-renovation. “New rooms will offer a permanent cultural experience,” read a statement. “One [room] will present the [French] national collections through an immersive digital display. Another will be dedicated to the rich history of the Grand Palais and the events it has hosted since 1900. A masterpiece work from a national collection will be presented in another space.”
This isn't the first time a major designer has sponsored upkeep of a city's cultural icon. In 2011, Tod's pledged to fund a restoration of Rome's Colosseum—the first phase completed in 2016. And Fendi recently invested £2.5 million into restoring the Trevi fountain. When construction to the Grand Palais begins, Chanel will join these labels, among many others, in giving back to their country of origin.
