What glass-and-metal structure opened at the Louvre in the bicentennial year 1989?

The glass-and-metal structure that opened at the Louvre in 1989 was the Louvre Pyramid.

Designed by Chinese-American architect I. M. Pei, the pyramid stands in the center of the Cour Napoléon. Its steel framework and glass panes form a geometric entrance that brings daylight into the Hall Napoléon, a vast underground lobby giving visitors access to the museum’s three main wings: Denon, Sully, and Richelieu.

The pyramid and its underground complex opened on 29 March 1989, ahead of the bicentennial celebrations of the French Revolution. Its placement beside centuries-old palace façades caused intense debate, and some critics initially regarded it as an inappropriate modern intrusion. It later became one of Paris’s best-known landmarks.

The pyramid is often confused with the Grande Arche, another Mitterrand-era monument completed in 1989 at La Défense. The Grande Arche hosted the 15th G7 summit, while the Louvre Pyramid served as the Louvre’s principal visitor entrance.