Introduction
Begin: Esplanade de la Défense Take métro Line 1. (If you take the RER instead of métro Line 1, you will need a 4-zone ticket to exit. Your 4-zone Navigo pass will allow you to exit as well.)End: La Défense Grande ArcheTime: One hourIntroductionIn order to keep up with the demands of the modern commercial world and attract international businesses, Paris needed more centralized office space. However, given the unstable ground in Paris (the bedrock is carved up with métro lines, sewer tunnels, and caves farmed for limestone) and a desire to safeguard Paris’s uniform skyline (only broken by the tour Montparnasse), skyscrapers needed to be built outside of Paris.Beginning in the 1960s, large towers began to be constructed across the Seine at the end of the historical axis that runs from the Louvre, through the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, and the Tuileries to the Place de la Concorde, the Champs-Elysées, the Arc de Triomphe, and out to la Défense. This historical axis ends at the Grande Arche, a massive structure designed by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen. The Grande Arche was completed in 1989, two years after von Spreckelsen’s death. He described his masterpiece as “an open window to the world with an eye to the future . . . a modern arc de triomphe built to honor the triumph of humanity.”
#1 Esplanade de la Défense
Begin by leaving the métro and going up to the Esplanade de la Défense, also known as the Esplanade du Général de Gaulle.From the Esplanade de la Défense, look back toward Paris and you will clearly see the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs-Elysées leading toward the Louvre. Now turn around and you will see the Grande Arche, mirroring its smaller predecessors at the far end of la Défense. The first pool you see, just at the métro exit (with what looks like colorful cogs and wheels on the end of sign posts jutting from it), is officially called bassin Takis, but our students call it “Tacky Basin.” It’s fun to look at old Paris as a background to these modern, brightly colored shapes.
#2 Manhattan building
Now begin to walk toward the Grande Arche, but turn at the first right and look for signs toward La Défense 3/Les Miroirs. You will go across a pedestrian bridge.If you look to your right, you will catch a glimpse of the Tour Eiffel. To your left, notice the architecture of the skyscrapers. The Manhattan building, built in 1975, with the concave curves in the corners, is one of the most interesting buildings at La Défense.
#3 La Grande Mosaïque
On the other end of the bridge, go into the center courtyard of Les Miroirs.Here you will find la Grande Mosaïque, a mosaic fountain by Michel Deverne. Made up of ten cylinders, it is arguably the largest mosaic in the world. What do the cylinders evoke for you? Plants? Giant pencil holders? Superman’s hideout?
#4 Le Somnambule
Go back across the bridge, and turn right before you reach the esplanade. Walk under the sculpture of a man on a large metal sphere.This is le Somnambule (the Sleepwalker) by artist Henri de Miller. (Can you relate to him?)
#5 La Cheminée d’aération
Continue through the small square over to the brightly colored sculpture to your left.This is the Cheminée d’aération (or Moretti Tower) by Raymond Moretti and is made up of 672 colored tubes. (My children are convinced they're straws.) Like its counterpart, Les Trois arbres (The Three Trees), both sculptures cover ventilation chimneys on the grounds of La Defense. Les Trois arbres is a mosaic representing trees spiraling up toward the sky.If you look across the esplanade, you will notice another sculpture titled Doubles lignes indéterminées (Indeterminate Double Lines). In fact, sculptures and fountains like these line the entire esplanade.
#6 Fontaine monumentale d’Agam
As you make your way up toward the Grande Arche, notice the sculptures around the trees and the unique shape of the EDF building on the left.In the center of the esplanade, as you approach the parvis (square) of the Grande Arche, there is a multicolored fountain called the Fontaine monumentale d’Agam. If you are lucky, you will hear music and see the fountain “dance” to it. Dance along (it’s okay; you won’t ever see any of these people again).Just beyond the fountain, look over to see a nineteenth-century sculpture rising from below called La Défense de Parisby Louis-Ernest Barrias. Placed in this area in 1883, this sculpture commemorates those who defended Paris against the Prussians during the siege of 1870 in the Franco-Prussian war. The area “La Défense” derives its name from this sculpture. There are three main figures on the sculpture: a woman, representing the city of Paris, dressed in the uniform of the National Guard, leaning on a cannon and holding a flag; the young defender placing a cartridge in his rifle; and on the opposite side of the monument, a prostrate girl represents the human suffering of civilians caught up in war.
#7 Deux personnages fantastiques
As you continue toward the Grande Arche, les Quatre Temps, a huge shopping center, will be on your left.Joan Miró, a famous Spanish surrealist painter and sculptor, created Deux personnages fantastiques (Two Fantastic Personnages), the brightly colored sculpture in front of les Quatre Temps. The unconventional form of the sculptures combined with the bright colors is meant to evoke both a playful freedom and an unbridled joy—a sharp and unmistakable counterpoint to the more ordered, somewhat austere lines of the surrounding buildings and the important, serious business that takes place therein.
#8 Centre des Nouvelles Industries et Technologies (CNIT)
Across the parvis to the right, you’ll see a building shaped like a giant airplane hangar called le palais de la Défense or le Centre des Nouvelles Industries et Technologies (CNIT).Constructed in 1958, the Centre des Nouvelles Industries et Technologies (CNIT) is the oldest building at la Défense. Before going up to the Grande Arche, walk to your right and go behind the CNIT to see one last sculpture, a favorite in our family ever since we had a thumb-sucking daughter in tow during a 2001 trip to Paris. Toward the back corner of the CNIT is César’s sculpture simply titled le Pouce (the Thumb).
#9 La Grande Arche
Now head back to the Grande Arche, and go up the steps.Up close, you will see that la Grande Arche is really a giant skyscraper (the entire cathédraleNotre Dame could fit underneath it). Covered in white marble, it houses several government ministries including the ministry of transportation and tourism. If you would like to go to the top, there are elevators that will take you there. From the base of the Grande Arche, you are already far above Paris, and the view is only slightly better from the top of the arch and is impeded by wires and a thick concrete barrier. The ride in the glass elevator is probably the best part of the experience, and you do get a good view of the cimetière de Neuillybehind the arch while riding up.
The End
You may return to the métro by going to La Défense Grande Arche stop in front of la Grande Arche. You may also take the RER back to Paris, but you must have a ticket that goes at least out to Zone 3 in order to do so. Otherwise, just take métro Line 1.After the WalkIf you are missing American-style shopping, go into the mall-like shopping centers on either side of the parvis.
