The reasons cited are scheduling problems and a financial drift due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There was also concern expressed over completing the extensive renovation in time for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The 2018 master plan by Local Architects Network is set to reconfigure the heritage site. The masterplan promised a new entrance leading from Square Jean Perrin into the refurbished Palais de la Découverte, a science museum adjoining the Grand Palais. A new internal “pedestrian street” called the Rue des Palais was also part of the scheme, linking the different parts of the vast complex.
According to The Art Newspaper Daily in France, the cost of these plans amounted to more than €600m. The fashion brand Chanel was due to donate €25m while the RMN would also loan €150m. Under the new initiative, the restoration should come to around €466m, the initial budget for the overhaul. The project no longer requires digging under the nave or in the listed wooded areas and protected green spaces located around the monument said the Ministry of Culture.
The historic site was built for the occasion of the World Fair of 1900. It will be closed from 2021 and is set to open to the public in 2025.
Read further at The Art Newspaper.
