Eight cool facts about the magnificent Grand Palais

Today on the podcast we shared eight things you almost certainly didn’t know about the Grand Palais.

I’ve listed them all out below, but for the full story and all the extra fun bits, listen to the podcast wherever you usually find them.

In case you’re not familiar with the Grand Palais, it’s the massive building between the Champs-Elysees and the Seine in the eight arrondissement, the one with the gobsmacking glass ceiling, barrel vaulted roof, and art nouveau facade.

It was built for the 1900 Universal Exhibition, it featured heavily in the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, and underwent a massive renovation between 2021 and 2024.

Incidentally, I was almost an expert on this venue for a big US TV channel during the Olympics, but my spot was canned at the last second. I’ve been sitting on my cool facts for two years. And today I finally share them with the world, in time for the G is for Grand Palais episode. Let’s go.

The paint on the ironwork inside is called “reseda green” and is the exact same colour that it was painted back in the late 19th century. Through a hail mary of a chance, the Grand Palais found the original paint shop that supplied the colour, and it was still in business. And get this: They had kept receipts for the exact shade of green they sold to the Grand Palais, allowing an easy match in a shade called Reseda green. Always keep your receipts!

The “main room” is actually called the nave. And if you thought you’d be able to stroll around in the nave, just because you got tickets to some art exhibition, you are likely wrong. Most of the art exhibitions are held in a series of quite large rooms, which are off in the wings of the palace.

Do you remember Mission: Impossibe Fallout? Of course you do, it’s an excellent film, and a great love letter to Paris in terms of filming locations. Well, at the start of the movie Tom Cruise jumps out of a plane and (SPOILER ALERT) lands on the Grand Palais rooftop. Then there are many more glorious minutes filmed inside the palace itself. Here’s a behind the scenes clip giving you an idea of the size of this place.

The Grand Palais just held a huge exhibition on the French painter Henri Matisse, featuring his work from the final years of his life (productive years, lots of cutouts). But did you know that afrer Matisse died, the first big retrospective of his work was held at the… you guessed it… Grand Palais! (Our full thoughts on the exhibition - good and bad - in this week’s podcast episode).

A classic football field (aka soccer field) is about 100 metres long, the main room of the Grand palais is more than twice that. Imagine!

Add this to your bucket list - we’ve done it a few times and it’s an extraordinatry experience. Bring gloves, they’re required!

The architect Le Corbusier would have torn it down in the sixties if he’d got his way, but his grand plans died when he did.

That’s right, we all know about 2024, but did you know it hosted some summer Olympics events in 1924 too?! And those events were quite unusual, namely architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture. A big shoutout to the painter Jean Jacoby who won the gold for painting, a feat he’d carry out at the following Olympics too! (One of his gold-winning pics is below, this is the one we mentioned on the show).

And a sincere apology to the great man himself, I accidentally referred to Jean as Dutch on the podcast, when he was in fact from Luxembourg.

There more facts and figures in this week’s podcast, and the rest of them are all accurate. Listen and become a member if you like it on Patreon or Substack.

If you’re after even more Paris podcast in your playlist, check out my appearance on Fab Expat below. I think you’ll like the episode.

Lastly, as I mentioned on my own podcast this week, I’m looking to expand my walking tours of the city to include other parts of town. Peruse what we already offer here, and book a tour today. Give yourself something to look forward to, and perhaps we will meet on a Monday in the Marais… or elsewhere?!

Have a great week, and find more from the Grand Palais on the official website here.