Gaumont-Palace

You are standing at the site of what was once the largest cinema in the world, the Gaumont-Palace. Before it became a temple of film, this location served a very different purpose as the Hippodrome de Montmartre, an immense arena built for the 1900 Exposition Universelle that hosted daring equestrian shows and circus acts. In 1910, the film pioneer Léon Gaumont acquired the structure and transformed the former circus ring into a monumental space for the moving image, beginning an era where it would dominate Paris cinema culture for decades.