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In a city like Paris, resplendent architecture is as plentiful as the layers of a mille-feuille. Lucky for the 2024 Olympic Games, then, that the “sports venues” for dozens of its events just so happen to be some of the world’s most glamorous locales, including the Grand Palais, Pont Alexandre III, the Esplanade des Invalides.
Could there have been a more fitting locale for the dressage competitions as the gardens at the Palace of Versailles? (We think not!) After all, the art of dressage is not unlike a ballet of a horse and its rider, and Louis XIV (for which the Château de Versailles was built in 1682) was a well-documented fan of ballet.
While there were some remarkable new structures commissioned for the purpose of the Olympics (just one, the Le Bourget Sport Climbing Venue, will live on past the Closing Ceremony), the most noteworthy locales are those that are quintessentially Parisian.
A look at the most historic landmarks hosting events at the 2024 Olympic Games, below.
Palace of Versailles
While no sports will take place inside the Palace of Versailles, across the sprawling André Le Nôtre-designed gardens in the Etoile Royale esplanade (located to the west of the Grand Canal), a temporary outdoor arena and spectator stands have been erected. There, two eventing disciplines (dressage test and jumping) and jumping and dressage competitions (Olympic and Paralympic) will be held.
Elsewhere on the grounds, the modern pentathlon races, the individual and team eventing cross-country section, and five modern pentathlon events will be hosted.
Grand Palais
Built for the Universal Exposition of 1900 as a cathedral for arts and culture, the Grand Palais features an iron, steel, and glass barrel-vaulted roof (originally inspired by London’s Crystal Palace). Fashion week followers will know it’s where Chanel typically shows in Paris, while Tour de France fans will remember how cyclists whizzed through the space in the 2017 race.
In the nave of the Palais, which has just undergone its first-ever major restoration, fencing and Taekwondo competitions will be hosted. It’s not the first time fencing athletes have competed in the space—the 2010 World Fencing Championships were also hosted in the Palais.
Hôtel de Ville
Built between 1874 and 1882 (after the original structure was damaged by fire), the imposing Hôtel de Ville is Paris’s City Hall. Splayed out in front of the building, which sits along the Seine, is a public square that will serve as the starting location for the 42.195 km marathon.
The location was not chosen merely for its scenery. The Hôtel de Ville is where the Women’s March on Versailles commenced on October 5, 1789 (a seminal moment of the French Revolution), and the routes for the men’s and women’s marathons on August 10 and 11, respectively, will follow the very same journey of the revolutionaries: past the Tuileries Garden, along the Seine, through Boulogne-Billancourt, to Versailles, before finalizing back in Paris at the Esplanade des Invalides.
Esplanade des Invalides
Commissioned by Louis XIV in 1687, the Hôtel des Invalides was created as a military hospital and retirement home for war veterans, and its striking gilt Dôme des Invalides (one of two chapels on the property) contains the tomb of Napoleon Bonaparte.
Surrounding the Hôtel des Invalides is a series of French formal gardens, the Esplanade des Invalides, which will serve as the locations for the Olympic archery and para archery events. The setting will also serve as the endpoint of the Olympic Marathon and will be along the route of portions of the cycling events.
Eiffel Tower Stadium
On the historic Champ de Mars—one of Paris’s most picturesque and pristinely symmetrical public greenspaces that stretches from the Eiffel Tower to the École Militaire with formal gardens, lawns, and pools—a temporary nearly 13,000-person stadium, christened the Eiffel Tower Stadium, has been erected to host a couple of events: beach volleyball and blind football.
It’s worth noting that nearby in the Champ de Mars you’ll also find the Champ de Mars Arena, the temporary exhibition hall installed in 2021. Designed by Jean-Michel Wilmotte, the log-shaped timber structure was brilliantly engineered to be deconstructed and reconfigured for future use—it’s also known as the Grand Palais Éphémère, after it was used to house exhibitions and cultural events while parts of the Grand Palais were under renovation. The Champ de Mars will host judo and wrestling, and upon the close of the Olympics, it will be relocated to a location yet to be determined.
Pont Alexandre III
A quartet of gilt cherubs, nymphs, and winged horses gleam in the Paris sun all day long on one of Paris’ most romantic landmarks, the Pont Alexandre III bridge. Built at the turn of the 20th century, it was named after Tsar Alexander III of Russia, and the bridge follows the period’s burgeoning Beaux-Arts style and was inaugurated at the Universal Exposition of 1900. Given its location, hovering over the heavily monitored waters of the Seine, Pont Alexandre III will be set up with temporary stands for a handful of Olympic sports. The 107 metres-long bridge will mark the finish line of the individual cycling time trials, swimming marathon, triathlon and Para triathlon.
Trocadéro
Located across the Seine from the Eiffel Tower in the 16th Arrondissement on the Right Bank of Paris, the Trocadéro is a site flocked to for its views of the Iron Lady. Though no games will be housed in the Trocadéro or its Palais de Chaillot, it will be a prime spectator spot for the triathlon, road cycling, and athletics (marathon and 20km race walk) events.
