Arab World Institute
This grandiose plan, commencing in 1982, was termed as a "testament to political symbolism and process" launched in the post-World War II France, as an exercise in urban planning. The Grands Projets, described as "eight monumental building projects that in two decades transformed the city skyline", included the Louvre Pyramid, Musée d'Orsay, Parc de la Villette, Arab World Institute, Opéra Bastille, Grande Arche de La Défense, Ministry of the Economy and Finance, as well as a new campus for the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the last and most expensive of the group. The projects did not all begin under Mitterrand—the Musée d'Orsay, La Défense Arch, Arab World Institute and La Villette commenced under his predecessor, President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing–but they are attributed to Mitterrand as they radically changed form under him.