La Grande Arche, the Great Arch, is the western end point of the axe historique. It was one of French president François Mitterrand’s “grands projets”, inaugurated in 1989 at the bicentennial of the French Revolution. A 110m high cube, it houses government offices and a viewing platform.
As with the Louvre, the Grande Arche is not centered on the axis but at a 6.5° angle. The reason for this is technical: below the parvis run a highway, the metro and the RER train, and the foundations would have stood right in the way of those. As it is, the shift shows off the depth of the monument.
La Grande Arche was initially known as La Grande Arche de la Fraternité (The Great Arch of Fraternity) but is referred to as La Grande Arche de la Défense or simply La Grande Arche.
La Défense is Europe’s largest purpose-built business district with 560ha (1,400acres). It is located outside the Paris city limits in the département Hauts-de-Seine. and divided between four municipalities: Puteaux, Courbevoie, Nanterre and La Garenne-Colombes.
The name stems from a monument called La Défense de Paris honoring the soldiers defending the city of Paris during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870. It was inaugurated in 1883 and has since been moved several times to accommodate the changing business district that now bears its name.
180,000 people work here, while only about 25,000 people live in the apartments that can be found in between the office towers. La Défense can be reached on public transport with the métro 1 which has two stations, one at each extremity: Esplanade de La Défense and La Défense (Grande Arche), as well as with the RER A at the La Défense station.
The axis in its extension from the Champs-Élysées was drawn under Louis XV, but it was only in the 1960s that the business district began to grow. It went through several stages until it became the collection of skyscrapers that it is today. Currently its highest tower is the Tour First at 231m, which is also France’s highest skyscraper.
Visitors to La Défense will notice the long esplanade stretching along the center of the district and culminating in the Parvis square between the CNIT, the Quatre Temps Shopping Center and the Grande Arche.
The Parvis with the CNIT on the left and the Quatre Temps shopping mall to the right – in the distance, the Arc de Triomphe
The CNIT is the oldest building of La Défense and the largest unsupported concrete span enclosed space in the world. Entry is free, you just need to look up to see the impressive roof structure.
inside the CNIT
The Quatre Temps Shopping mall was the most visited shopping mall in France in 2019.
Below the esplanade hides a network of streets, the métro, the RER train, delivery docks, service and emergency access roads, and parking garages.
The French hierarchy of roads is determined by who is in charge of their construction and maintenance. So if the communes (municipalities) are in charge of the routes communales, and the départements in charge of the routes départementales, the nation, that is, the French state, is in charge of the routes nationales.
The routes nationales (RN) form a national road network that predates autoroutes (highways/motorways). Contrary to the autoroutes (highways/motorways), there are no toll stations on the Nationales, making them a cheaper (if slower) alternative.
The RN 13 is one of the main Nationales starting out from Paris. It links Paris with the town of Cherbourg in the département Manche, as one of four Nationales between Paris and Normandy.
The Nationale 13 with the métro 1 running at its center, the Porte Maillot construction site and the Arc de Triomphe in the background.
On the stretch between Porte Maillot and La Défense business district, it accommodates up to 160,000 vehicles per day.
Porte Maillot is one of over 60 portes de Paris (Paris city gates) and one of 35 entrance/exit point of the Boulevard Périphérique, the ring road encircling Paris that is mostly built along the Thiers city wall.
Porte Maillot is an interchange between the Boulevard Périphérique, the Place de l’Étoile and La Défense business district. Seen from above, it looks almost like a rugby ball. Currently, however, it is a giant construction site, as part of the reorganization of the entire interchange area.
On the north, it is flanked by the Palais des Congrès, a concert venue, convention center and shopping mall, beyond which towers the Hyatt Regency hotel.
The train station in the northeast corner gives access to the RER C. The current building, constructed at the time of the 1900 World Fair, has barely changed in over a hundred years.
This avenue is the continuation of the Champs Élysées and runs from the Place de l’Étoile to Porte Maillot. It is one of the 12 avenues forming the star of the Étoile, and it also constitutes the limit between the 16th and 17tharrondissements.
It is named after Napoléon’s Grande Armée (Great Army), the French Imperial army under Emperor Napoléon Ier that participated in all the campaigns of the First Empire (that is, Napoléon’s reign 1804-1814).
For drivers who’d rather not brave the Place de l’Étoile roundabout, the tunnel de l‘Étoile links the Champs Élysées directly to the Grande Armée.
Twice per year, the sun rises in the axis of the avenue (around Feb 7 and Nov 4), and twice a year, it sets in the axis (around May 10 and August 1).
The Arc de Triomphe, or Triumphal Arch, was built on the orders of Napoléon Ier. Its construction began at the same time as that of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, in 1806. By the time it was achieved in 1836, Napoléon had long since disappeared and a king sat once again on the French throne, namely Louis-Philippe.
Built on a hill, the Arc de Triomphe is easily visible both from the Place de la Concorde and the Esplanade de La Défense.
Napoléon Ier had the arch built following the victorious battle of Austerlitz. Initially, he wanted it to be located on the east side of the city, near the Bastille, so that returning armies would enter the Faubourg Saint Antoine by passing under his arch. However, he could be convinced that the current location was better suited (especially for financial reasons).
Today, the Arc de Triomphe still is a monument with a strong historical connotation, which was only reinforced by the burial of the unknown soldier from WWI beneath it in 1921. The eternal flame arrived two years later, one of the first of its kind in the modern era. It is rekindled every evening at 6.30pm. When the European Union flag was flown inside the Arc de Triomphe at the beginning of January 2022, to mark the French presidency of the European Union (January-June 2022), it earned much criticism, and the flag was taken down. (The EU circle of stars on a blue-illuminated Eiffel Tower was fine, as the tower does not bear the same historical significance.)
Several times a year, the sun rises or sets in the axis of the Arc de Triomphe: sunrise on February 4, 5 and 6 and November 7, sunset on May 7, 8 and 9 as well as August 3, 4 and 5.
Among the events that took place at the Arc de Triomphe, the most notable ones are the transfer of Napoléon Ier’s ashes in 1840, the vigil of Victor Hugo prior to his funeral in the Panthéon, and sadly the yellow-vest riots’s third protest on December 1st, 2018, during which the Arc de Triomphe was smeared, damaged and graffitied.
This giant roundabout where twelve avenues meet, called Place de l’Étoile, Square of the Star, exists since around 1670. It received the Star name some sixty years later, as even then roads and paths crossed on this hill, giving the intersection the shape of a star.
When the General Farmers city wall was built in 1787, passing to the east of the square, the barrière de l’Étoile city gate was set up in the vicinity.
The Arc de Triomphe was built in its center on Napoléon Ier’s orders. It construction began in 1806 and took 30 years. From 1845 to 1855, visitors to the Arc de Triomphe could look down onto a racetrack.
In November 1970, the square was renamed Place Charles de Gaulle following the death of the general. It is still frequently referred to as Place de l’Étoile, and the métro and RER station below bears the name Charles de Gaulle-Étoile (which helps avoid confusion with the airport destination of the same name).
The Champs Élysées is not only called la plus belle avenue du monde, the most beautiful avenue in the world, it is also a central and large space and thus perfect for special events and occasions. People will assemble spontaneously on “Les Champs” for certain occasions, such as New Year’s Eve, or after the French national soccer team’s World Cup victories in 1998 and 2018.
Some planned events that transformed the avenue temporarily were:
La Grande Moisson (the Great Harvest) on 24 June 1990 transformed the Champs into a giant wheat field with harvesting machines.
During Train Capitale from May 15 to June 17, 2003, historic and modern trains were exposed and temporary train tracks were laid so a train could run between place de la Concorde and Avenue Georges V.
As part of the failed 2012 Olympic bid on June 05, 2005, the Champs became a huge sports terrain with athletics track, swimming pool and more.
In October 2008, it hosted the 100 years of French aviation exhibition.
Nature Capitale on May 22-24, 2010, transformed the Champs into a giant garden.
From time to time, the Paris Friday Night inline skate event will descend the avenue.
2 – Rents on the northern side of the avenue are higher than on the southern side because they receive more sunlight.
3 – The avenue had several names before taking the one that made it to fame in 1789: Grand-Cours, allée du Roule and avenue de Neuilly.
4 – You can reach its five different métro stations with 7 different métro lines and one RER train.
5 – Every year, it hosts the military parade of the French national holiday July 14 (Bastille Day), the arrival of the Tour de France, and Christmas illuminations.
Following an equestrian statue of Louis XV, a statue of liberty and a statue of Louis XVI, the Luxor obelisk has stood at the center of the Place de la Concorde since the 1830s.
Actually, there were two obelisks given to France by Egypt. Jean-François Champollion, the French scholar who deciphered the hieroglyphs, chose which would be transported to France first.
A ship had to be built specifically for its transport as it had to be able to navigate the Nile, the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean, the Channel and the Seine, all with the 23m-long 230 ton obelisk aboard. The journey ended up taking almost two years.
Details of the complex machinery needed to transport and erect it were added to the pedestal in 1839.
Today’s gold-leaf pyramid cap was added in 1998.
In 1981, President François Mitterrand officially renounced possession of the second obelisk, restoring it to Egypt, where it can still be seen at the Luxor Temple.
