If you have been in for a few daysParis And if you want a change of atmosphere, to visit an area without history, without churches, without ancient art and without stories of kings, but with interesting modern architecture and a different perspective on 21st century Paris, you are invited to a half-day excursion to the La Défense district.
This is the Manhattan district of Paris, in the west of the city near the 17th arrondissement andBoulogne Forest, containing the largest skyscraper business district of its kind in Europe. The area has been defined as one of the world's most ambitious urban planning projects - the architecture and business world of tomorrow.
The 40-story and more office buildings are radically different from the age-old buildings of classical Paris. You are actually in a huge pedestrian street with the infrastructure of roads, parking lots and railways underneath. The place has also been defined as a huge “concrete platform” built above the main road. The district also serves as an accessible and comfortable residential district.
The area began to be built in the 60s in an ultra-modern style. The historical origin of the district's name is in the war of 1870 when the French fiercely defended the area from Prussian attacks. Today, nearly 200 people work there. Some of them are employed by the largest companies in France, whose offices are located here.
Getting to the district via metro line 1 and/or RER line A and getting off at LA DEFENSE GRANDE ARCHE station
The Grand-Arsh
Standing out above all is a huge white hollow cube made of white marble and glass – the Grand-Arc (Great Gate), from the top of which a spectacular view of the city can be seen from a height of 110 m. The inner size of the gate is symbolic: 100 meters by 100 meters, just like the Cor-Carre of The Louvre MuseumThe tarpaulin stretched inside the huge gate space symbolizes a large cloud.
The gate contains 4,000 windows and 35 floors. To illustrate the size of the gate, it is said that if it were 6 meters more high and wide, it could contain the entire Notre Dame Cathedral. Another version claims that the gate could contain the church even then.
The gate was designed by Danish architect Otto von Spreckelsen, built in the 80s, inaugurated in 1989 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, and became a symbol of President François Mitterrand's vision of progress in the XNUMXs.
The shape of the gate symbolizes an open window to the world. It houses government offices, companies and private offices. In less than a minute, you can take one of the four transparent elevators to a wonderful panoramic view from the roof of the building. Photojournalism exhibitions are held on the roof terrace every year. However, it is not necessary to go up, as even from the top of the gate steps you can see the royal avenue of Paris, which continues in a straight line to the Arc de Triomphe, via the Champs-Élysées. Place de la Concorde, the Tuileries Gardens and ends at the small triumphal arch of the Carrousel and the Louvre building next to it.
La Défense Mall
At the foot of the skyscrapers next to the Grand Gate, a huge shopping center, the QUATRE TEMPS, has been built, the largest in Paris, with over 300 stores. The mall, which was inaugurated in 1981, contains several floors of clothing stores, electronics, restaurants, cafes, cinemas and boutiques.
The Four Seasons Mall is an excellent place for those who want to shop. It actually has everything, including a huge supermarket called Oshun, which spans two floors. On the first floor, there is food, and on the second floor, there is a large department of children's toys, shoes, sporting goods, books, clothes, computers, phones, bags, and more, all at relatively cheap prices. Most international chains are also represented here, such as A&C, which has a large store on two floors and at fairly cheap prices.
During the lunch break of the district's workers, there is a lot of congestion here, especially in the restaurants in the center, which serve thousands of workers at the same time.
CNIT Center
The CNIT Center – “Center for New Industries and Technologies” is also known as the Palais de la Défense, is a unique architectural structure resembling an inverted seashell that serves, among other things, as another commercial center with several luxury stores and a large branch of the FNAC chain. This center was the first building to be built in La Défense and was inaugurated in 1958. It stands out for its enormous size and its bold and unique architecture. Over the years, it has undergone several extensive renovations. The structure is supported by only three support points connected underground.
Dome Imax
The DOME IMAX is housed in a curved glass building, built in 1992 and serves as a 460-seat movie theater with the world’s largest hemispherical (180-degree) movie screen. It is located to the left of the main gate, and its area is 1144 square meters. Mainly action films and documentaries are screened here, and viewers have the feeling that they are taking part in the events projected on the screen.
Automobile Museum
Another attraction in the area is the car museum next to the cinema, which displays an impressive collection of over 100 antique cars, mostly from French companies. The display traces the development of cars from their beginnings to the present day.
The boardwalk
Between the LA DEFENSE and ESPLANADE DE LA DEFENSE metro stations, you will find the colorful promenade named after General de Gaulle, which incorporates diverse modern sculptures, some of which are the work of famous artists, such as: Cesar, Joan Miró, Moretti, Alexander Calder and the Israeli Yaakov Agam, who presents a colorful fountain here and a modern combination of color and water.
The promenade is a continuation of the historic axis that extends from the Louvre Museum to the Grand Porte de la Défense. While walking along the promenade, among the giant towers, some of which are covered in glass in different colors and in which the immediate surroundings are clearly reflected, you will be able to see, among other things, the 45-story Fiat Tower, the Mirror Building, the unique Manhattan Tower, the green Gann Tower, which is used by several large insurance companies, the Essa Tower, and the ELF fuel company tower, which is painted blue and its shades change under the influence of sunlight. The towers are home to the offices of nearly 1,000 companies, some of which are leaders in the French and global markets.
A few years ago, I arrived in Paris right at the end of the season (after all, I'm a woman, a fashion blogger, so looking for beautiful and cheap clothes is a must), and I read about the big mall there. We went to this beautiful place and just fell in love. Somehow the French know how to build a business area in their own way. There were lounge chairs with umbrellas in the plaza, there was a kiosk that sold cold drinks, the mall was full of comfortable seats and delicious restaurants. A charming area, which I think every tourist should experience, in order to understand Paris a little better. We found sculptures there, which we knew from the Joan Miro Museum in Barcelona, we found a lot of modern beauty there.
Even today, decades after the district was established, it is considered "daring" and unloved by many French people. Many of the things the French did in this modern district would be very desirable if we took them and implemented them here, in our cities of ugly towers and concrete.