Paris Is Marking 100 Years of Art Deco With a Virtual Time Machine Back to 1925
One hundred years ago, Paris staged a massive exhibition between the Grand Palais and Les Invalides that defined luxury design for the next century. Now the Cité de l’Architecture is recreating that world—pavilion by pavilion—through a virtual model that drops you directly into 1925.
Paris 1925: Art Deco and Its Architects runs from Wednesday, October 22, 2025 through Sunday, March 29, 2026.
The Exhibition That Launched a Movement
On April 28, 1925, the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts opened across Paris, drawing 16 million visitors before closing that November.
Post-war France was hungry for something new, and the bold geometric pavilions delivered: Le Corbusier’s modernist provocations, Robert Mallet-Stevens’s sleek tourism tower, Auguste Perret’s experimental structures, Henri Sauvage’s forward-thinking designs.
Under director Charles Plumet, these temporary buildings explored radical ideas about architecture, urbanism, and the relationship between built spaces and nature. Art Deco wasn’t just a style—it was a statement about what modern life could look like.
What the Cité Is Actually Showing
The exhibition centers on an immersive virtual reconstruction that lets you navigate the 1925 site as if you’re walking through it yourself. You’ll encounter the iconic pavilions, trace the career paths of architecture’s biggest names, and see how these designers’ concepts shaped the emerging definition of modernity.
There’s also a recreated Art Deco garden showing how the movement engaged with landscape and nature—a relationship that shaped projects throughout the era.
For families, the museum created a map-based scavenger hunt that doubles as a coloring activity, guiding visitors through the pavilions while keeping kids engaged.
Why This Centenary Matters
The 1925 Exhibition gave the world Art Deco as we know it—those geometric forms, streamlined shapes, and luxurious materials that still define elegance in 2025. Paris is packed with its legacy: the Grand Rex, Palais de Chaillot, and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. The style spread globally and never really left.
This exhibition arrives alongside the Musée des Arts Décoratifs’s blockbuster centenary show (running through April 26, 2026, featuring nearly 1,000 works and a full-scale reconstruction of the Orient Express). Together, they’re the most comprehensive look at Art Deco’s origins in Paris that has been mounted in decades.
The Cité’s focus on architecture and urban planning complements the decorative arts deep-dive happening down the street—giving you both the buildings and what filled them.
Location: Cité de l’Architecture et du Patrimoine, 1 Place du Trocadéro, 16th arrondissement
Tickets: €13 full price
Hours: Check the museum website for current details and available slots.
