When you go shopping at Galeries Lafayette, you find your head under a masterpiece from the Belle Epoque. Rising 43 meters above the ground, the cupola of the Boulevard Haussmann department store illuminates the entire large central hall with its soft golden light.
While undergoing renovation since the end of 2019, it has regained its former splendor and is reviving the French art of living ! A mythical dome Inaugurated on October 8, 1912, this immense dome is an architectural object that has always fascinated, dazzled and steals the show from the rest of the building: it consists of ten beams, together forming an immense flower of 1,000 m2 of stained glass, erected in a typical Art Nouveau style.
More sparkling than ever, the magnificent work produced by Ferdinand Chanut, Jacques Grüber and Louis Majorelle, has regained all its splendor following long restoration work, facilitated by the closure of the store and successive confinements.
But it’s not easy to restore a chandelier of such magnitude! The 30,000 tonnes of electrical and hydraulic networks, the 1,900 stained glass windows, the 1,440 opaque glasses of the old dome, carefully numbered, as well as the 1,665 glasses forming the old glass roof, had to be passed through the roof to clean them. and restore them. But the game was worth the candle since, from now on, natural light shines through the colored stained glass windows. And to add a little more sparkle to the dome, LEDs and motorized hooks will allow breathtaking installations to be suspended during events.
Galeries Lafayette Paris Haussmann 40, Boulevard Haussmann 75009 PARIS
