Arche de la Défense
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

La Grande Arche de la Défense (; "The Great Arch of the Defense"), originally called La Grande Arche de la Fraternité (; "Fraternity"), is a
monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...
and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
, France. It is usually known as the Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche. A cube, La Grande Arche is part of the perspective from the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
to Arc de Triomphe, and was one of the
Grands Projets of François Mitterrand The Grands Projets of François Mitterrand (variants: Grands Travaux or Grands Projets Culturels; officially: Grandes Opérations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme) was an architectural programme to provide modern monuments in Paris, the city of monume ...
. The distance from La Grande Arche to Arc de Triomphe is .


Design and construction

A great national
design competition A design competition or design contest is a competition in which an entity solicits design proposals from the public for a specified purpose. Architecture An architectural design competition solicits architects to submit design proposals for a b ...
was launched in 1982 as the initiative of French president François Mitterrand.
Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...
architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen (1929–1987) and Danish engineer Erik Reitzel (1941–2012) designed the winning entry to be a late-20th-century version of the Arc de Triomphe: a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals rather than military victories. The construction of the monument began in 1985, with most of the work being carried out by French civil engineering company Bouygues. Spreckelsen resigned in July 1986 and ratified the transfer of all his architectural responsibilities to his associate, French architect
Paul Andreu Paul Andreu (10 July 1938 – 11 October 2018) was a French architect, known for his designs of multiple airports such as Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and multiple prestigious projects in China, including the National Centre for the Per ...
. Reitzel continued his work until the monument was completed in 1989. The Grande Arche is in the approximate shape of a cube with a width, height, and depth of ; it has been suggested that the structure looks like a hypercube (a
tesseract In geometry, a tesseract is the four-dimensional analogue of the cube; the tesseract is to the cube as the cube is to the square. Just as the surface of the cube consists of six square faces, the hypersurface of the tesseract consists of e ...
) projected onto the three-dimensional world. It has a
prestressed concrete Prestressed concrete is a form of concrete used in construction. It is substantially "prestressed" ( compressed) during production, in a manner that strengthens it against tensile forces which will exist when in service. Post-tensioned concreted i ...
frame covered with
glass Glass is a non-crystalline, often transparent, amorphous solid that has widespread practical, technological, and decorative use in, for example, window panes, tableware, and optics. Glass is most often formed by rapid cooling ( quenching ...
and is covered in Bethel Granite. ''La Grande Arche'' was inaugurated in July 1989, with grand military parades that marked the bicentennial of the
French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
. It completed the line of monuments that forms the
Axe historique The ''Axe historique'' (; "historical axis") is a line of monuments, buildings, and thoroughfares that extends from the centre of Paris, France, to the west. It is also known as the ''Voie Triomphale'' (; "triumphal way"). The Axe Historique ...
running through Paris. The Grande Arche is turned at an angle of 6.33° about the vertical axis. The most important reason for this turn was technical: with a
Paris Métro The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...
station, an RER station, and a motorway all situated directly underneath the ''Arche'', the angle was the only way to accommodate the structure's giant foundations. In addition, from an architectural point of view, the turn emphasises the depth of the monument and is similar to the turn of the
Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...
at the other end of the Axe Historique. In addition, the ''Arche'' is placed so that it forms a secondary axis with the two of the highest buildings in Paris at the time, the Tour Eiffel and the
Tour Montparnasse Tour Maine-Montparnasse (Maine-Montparnasse Tower), also commonly named Tour Montparnasse, is a office skyscraper located in the Montparnasse area of Paris, France. Constructed from 1969 to 1973, it was the tallest skyscraper in France until ...
. The two sides of the ''Arche'' house government offices. The roof section was closed in 2010 following an accident without injury and the marble tiles which had begun to peel off were replaced with granite ones. It opened again in 2017 after seven years of renovation work. It features panoramic views of Paris, includes a restaurant, and an exhibition area dedicated to photojournalism. The void contains skeletal shafts for panoramic lifts and a PTFE-and-
fibreglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...
tensile-membrane sunshade known as the "Cloud" (''Le nuage'').


Gallery

File:Arc De Triomphe from the Grande Arche.jpg, View of the Arc de Triomphe from the Grande Arche File:Christmas decoration at the Grand Arche.jpg, Christmas decoration at the Grand Arche File:GrandeArche.jpg, The ''Grande Arche'' seen from the ''Arc de Triomphe'' on the ''Axe historique'' File:North facade of the Grande Arche de la Défense - 20050906.jpg, North façade of the Grande Arche de la Défense File:Western part of La Défense as seen from the Grande Arche - 2020-07-07.jpg, Western part of La Défense as seen from the Grande Arche


Tenants

Organizations headquartered in the Grande Arche include the
Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer (BEAmer, "French Marine Accident Investigation Office") is the French agency that investigates accidents and incidents of ships. Its head office is in the Grande Arche Sud (South) in the La Défense ...
(BEAmer), the French marine accident investigation agency, in the southern portion.Contact us
"
Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer Bureau d'Enquêtes sur les Événements de Mer (BEAmer, "French Marine Accident Investigation Office") is the French agency that investigates accidents and incidents of ships. Its head office is in the Grande Arche Sud (South) in the La Défense ...
. Retrieved on 22 June 2017. "Bureau d’enquêtes sur les événements de mer (''BEAmer'') Arche Sud 92055 LA DEFENSE CEDEX FRANCE" – Note th
pedestrian access map
/ref>


See also

* List of tallest buildings and structures in the Paris region


References


Further reading

* François Chaslin et Virginie Picon-Lefebvre, ''La Grande Arche de La Défense'' Electa-Moniteur, 1989 * Erik Reitzel ''Le Cube ouvert. Structures and foundations'' International conference on tall buildings. Singapore, 1984. * Erik Reitzel ''Les forces dont resultent quelques monuments Parisiens de la Fin du XXe siècle'' Le pouvoir et la ville à l'époque moderne et contemporaine, Sorbonne 2001.


External links


Grande Arche
(French and English)
Satellite image from Google Maps




(in French)
ERI.dk

Grande Arche pictures in Art Days
{{Authority control Triumphal arches in France La Défense Monuments historiques of Île-de-France Skyscraper office buildings in France Tourist attractions in Paris Buildings and structures completed in 1989 Esports venues in France 1989 establishments in France