The famous glass pyramid at the Louvre in Paris, France, was chosen by the American Institute of Architects as recipient of its 25-year award. This award celebrates a project that has “stood the test of time by embodying architectural excellence for 25 to 35 years,” ArchDaily reports.

IM Pei’s design is as well-known today as the Eiffel Tower, the citation reads. It also states that Pei showed an unprecedented amount of cultural sensitivity, political acumen, innovation and preservation skill to get the project off the ground. The idea behind the design was to make the Louvre’s art collection, visited by millions of people annually, more accessible and to shorten the waiting period to gain entry.

Pei’s project – part one of two, known as the Grand Louvre – rehabilitated the Cour Napoléon, a courtyard previously used for parking, as public space. Beneath the courtyard he created extra exhibition space of 560 000m2. As with the three existing wings of the museum, access to the new space is through the glass pyramid which is 22m high, consists of bout 800 pieces of glass and weighs nearly 90 tons.