The place where business is done, the sky is scraped, statues loom – and where Paris was once saved.
Almost 10 kilometres from the centre of Paris – and what feels like a world away from its timeless, cloistered white-fronted streets – La Defense is a thrusting vibrant reflection of modern-day France. It was built in order to meet the needs of a growing number of international businesses who wanted to be based in Paris, but couldn't find the space. By placing the corporate skyscrapers outside of the old town, it was hoped to keep Paris 'très belle'. Now La Defense has become something of an attraction in itself – if only for the jolting contrast between the two faces of Paris.
Part of the draw lies in the fact that this is where Paris' long-line of historic monuments and squares points to, and comes to an end. The Axe Historique had grown north-westwards from the Champs Élysées over the years, and many Parisians felt the line needed finishing off – by building a monument where it meets the Seine again. And in the 1980s just such a monument was duly created, in time for the 200th anniversary of the 1789 Revolution – the Grande Arche de la Défense.
This 91-metre high framed cube mirrors the two other Parisian arches – the Arc de Triomphe and the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel – along the Axe Historique. But it is visually very different – all sharp angles and clean white lines, with its two pillars actually used as office buildings themselves. And the plaza around the Grande Arch competes with this bold architectural vision. There are giant modernist sculptures scattered around, forming part of an impressive, and subversive, open-air museum.
But it's not all bright and shiny and new here. One of the more interesting sculptures is over a century old, and gives a clue to the name of the district. La Défense de Paris is a bronze statue placed here to remember the French soldiers who valiantly defended the city against the surrounding Prussian army in 1870. So while La Defense might seem a brash forest of towers now, remember that these hills against the Seine were where the old city of Paris was once defended – and saved.
