Grands Projets of François Mitterrand

The Grands Projets of François Mitterrand (variants: Grands Travaux or Grands Projets Culturels; officially: Grandes Opérations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme) was an architectural programme to provide modern monuments in Paris, the city of monuments, symbolising France's role in art, politics and the economy at the end of the 20th century. The programme was initiated by François Mitterrand, the 21st President of France, while he was in office. Mitterrand viewed the civic building projects, estimated at the time to cost the Government of France 15.7 billion French francs, both as a revitalisation of the city, as well as contemporary architecture promoted by Socialist Party politics. The scale of the project and its ambitious nature was compared to the major building schemes of Louis XIV. This grandiose plan, commencing in 1982, was termed as a "testament to political symbolism and process" launched in the post-World War II France, as an exercise in urban planning. The Grands Projets, described as "eight monumental building projects that in two decades transformed the city skyline", included the Louvre Pyramid, Musée d'Orsay, Parc de la Villette, Arab World Institute, Opéra Bastille, Grande Arche de La Défense, Ministry of the Economy and Finance, as well as a new campus for the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the last and most expensive of the group. The projects did not all begin under Mitterrand—the Musée d'Orsay, La Défense Arch, Arab World Institute and La Villette commenced under his predecessor, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing–but they are attributed to Mitterrand as they radically changed form under him. Built between 1981 and 1998, the Grands Projets were constructed of similar materials, in less than two decades, within an urban landscape, and displaying related ideologies. Several of the monuments would display transparency, reflection, and abstract form. Considered to be visible, durable and controversial elements of Mitterrand's years in office, the Grands Travaux or Grands Projets Culturels, were officially known as the Grandes Operations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme.