La Défense Arch of La Défense

La Défense Arch of La Défense

La Défense Arch of La Défense (French: La Grande Arche de la Défense) is a famous landmark in Paris, France, located at the western end of the historic axis in the La Défense business district of Paris. Along with the Eiffel Tower, it is one of the most influential modern architectural structures in France. The La Défense Arch of La Défense is also commonly known as the Grand Arch (La Grande Arche) or the New Arch.

The La Défense Arch of La Défense was officially inaugurated on July 14, 1989, with a grand military parade to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. That year's G7 summit was also held here. It opened to the public on August 26, 1989. Upon completion, the New Arch became part of the historic axis that runs through central Paris. The La Défense Arch of La Défense is almost a perfect cube (110 meters high, 108 meters wide, and 112 meters deep). From an architectural structural perspective, the New Arch appears as if a four-dimensional hypercube (a tesseract) has been projected into three-dimensional space. The New Arch features a prestressed concrete frame, with its exterior covered in glass and Carrara marble from Italy. It was constructed by the French civil engineering company Bouygues. Inside the New Arch, there is a "cloud," which was originally designed by architects to protect visitors from wind and rain. The "cloud" was engineered by Peter Rice and is made of Teflon material, supported by cables that hold up the Teflon-covered fabric.

On both sides of the Arch are government office spaces, covering approximately 87,000 square meters. The roof area serves as an exhibition center. Several fully transparent cylindrical glass elevators installed between the pillars on either side of the New Arch can take visitors up to the top of the more than 100-meter-high structure. From here, you can overlook the historic axis commissioned by the “Sun King” Louis XIV and designed by his chief landscape architect André Le Nôtre, as well as see the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Garden, and the Louvre Museum 10 kilometers away.

Grande Arche

Must-visit reason: One of France’s most influential modern architectural structures

Continent: Europe【Europe】

Country/Region: France[France]

Province/State: Île-de-France Region [Ile-de-France Region]

City: Paris [Paris]