La Samaritaine - Art Nouveau Department Store

After closing down over 15 years due to requiring major renovations and complying with safety issues, the "Samaritaine" has just reopened. This department store is no ordinary shopping place, the four buildings were designed between the late 1800's to early 1900's in the styles of Art Nouveau and Art Déco and the main store is classified.

While the restauration took much longer than originally planned, the result is breathtaking and does honor to the work of Architects Frantz Jourdain and Henri Sauvage. The elements of Art Nouveau are here: arabesques and volutes evoking feminine shapes, floral and animal motifs, colors, rythmn, glass, steel.

Here are a few snapshots of the skylight which lets a very soft blue light inside, the beautiful top floor fresco, the curvy iron works on the staircase. Notice how the bottom of the platforms is covered with ceramic tiles.