In Paris, a new museum complex dedicated to architecture has opened

Paris - French President Nicolas Sarkozy officially launched the activities of a new Parisian cultural institution dedicated to French architecture today. The institution, called Cité de l'architecture et du patrimoine (Center for Architecture and National Heritage), is located in one of the wings of the Chaillot Palace opposite the Eiffel Tower. Admission will be free.
    At its core is a museum of French monuments, which offers a journey through the history of French architecture starting from the Romanesque period. Its development is documented by casts of representative architectural elements and sculptures, along with copies of wall paintings and stained glass, all in the original dimensions, and modern architecture is presented in model form. The register thus ranges from, for example, the tympanum and painted decoration of the ceiling of a Romanesque church to a model of the work of modern architect Le Corbusier.
    The French Institute of Architecture and the so-called Chaillot School, which trains architects with a focus on national heritage, have also been incorporated into the new institution.
    The project for the new institution took place thirteen years after its inception. It required five years of renovations of the Chaillot Palace, costing 82 million euros (about 2.3 billion crowns).
    A dozen leading world architects attended today's ceremonial inauguration at Sarkozy's invitation, including British architect Norman Foster, French architect Jean Nouvel, and Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas.
    The palace was originally built for the World's Fair in 1878 and was renovated to its current form for the World's Fair in 1937.