Paris (AFP)

Emmanuel Macron hailed a "formidable French heritage treasure" by inaugurating La Samaritaine on Monday alongside Bernard Arnault, CEO of LVMH, the group that owns the Parisian department store which will reopen on Wednesday after sixteen years of closure and 750 million euros in works.

"There is a French art of living here", underlined the President of the Republic, highlighting "the fruit of hard work, 16 years of dogged work, an adventure of long time and also collective", for this "formidable French heritage treasure", praising "the excellence" of the luxury group LVMH which defends according to him "the French know-how".

"We are preparing the renewal, with also this evening the Music Festival" after 15 months of crisis, summed up Emmanuel Macron.

For billionaire Bernard Arnault, "this event marks the end of the tragic period of this crisis which hit the world and our country. Only a family group could embark on such an investment without return for 15 years".

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Ultimately, the site will employ around 3,000 people between its store, luxury hotel, restaurants and offices.

Closed in 2005, officially for safety reasons related to its dilapidation, the famous store facing the Seine, at the Pont Neuf, was to reopen in 2020 for its 150th anniversary.

A project prevented by the coronavirus pandemic, which will only have been an additional incident on the path strewn with pitfalls that this site has known.

LVMH became the majority shareholder in this loss-making department store in 2001, and indeed had a hard time getting its project through, including a luxury hotel Cheval Blanc (a brand of the luxury group) with 72 rooms and suites with a plunging view of the Seine, which will open on September 7th.

Four restaurants, including a gourmet one run by starred chef Arnaud Donckele, named chef of the year by Gault and Millau in its 2020 edition, have also been created.

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Jewels of Art Nouveau and Art Deco, the four buildings - including one listed as a Historic Monument - have undergone a major restructuring which had to respect and enhance the period elements: mosaics, enamels, glass roofs or railings in wrought iron.

The store occupies 20,000 square meters, against around 30,000 square meters when it closed, and houses some 600 luxury brands combining fashion, lifestyle and gastronomy.

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