The overhauled La Samaritaine department store is now open in Paris after an $894 million restoration that has kept the building closed since 2005.

The new Samaritaine features a rippling glass veiled facade, covered patios, repaired skylights, and an updated 1907 roof that gives the shopping center's restored interior an opulent feel.

Japanese firm SANAA worked to restore the Art Nouveau and Art Deco buildings for LVHM with help from Canadian studio Yabu Pushelberg. The new Samaritaine Pont-Neuf building will now serve as a luxury shopping destination in a 19th-century retail space itself reconstructed a century ago by architect Frantz Jourdain. 

The newly restored buildings had once been host to an unprofitable venture and will now feature contrasting retail spaces, with three floors aimed deliberately at Millennials consumers and a ground floor with pop-up installments by caviar manufacturer Prunier and dedicated spaces for fashion houses Dior and Bulgari. 

Peacock frescos from Jourdain's son and other ceramic work were refurbished after being uncovered during the lengthy restoration process. A reconstructed lava stone panel decorations for the building's Rue de la Monnaie side were made possible by SANAA's use of archival images. 

French President Emmanuel Macron called the building “a stunning French cultural treasure” in a pre-opening tour Monday afternoon.

La Samaritaine’s roughly 215,000 square feet of retail spaces will soon be joined by the highly anticipated new Cheval Blanc hotel from Peter Marino scheduled to open in September.

“Throughout this project, we have remained faithful to the spirit of the place and the intent of the architects: embracing modernity — sometimes with radical approaches — meticulously focusing on details, and boldly proposing contrasts,” Jean-Jacques Guiony, La Samaritaine’s Chairman and CEO, said in a statement. 

“La Samaritaine has always been a pioneer in its times — in 1870 when the store was founded, in 1911 when the Art Nouveau buildings were completed, in 1928 when the Art Deco building opened on the Seine — and it continues to be a trailblazer today.”