What are some facts about the grande arche de la défense?

Answer 1

In the 1980s, the project of the Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen and Danish engineer Erik Reitzel, who proposed to build a great arch, is selected among 424 propositions.

Work begins in 1985, with a staff of 2,000 builders, 2 of which will die during the construction. The Arch is inaugurated in July 1989, which is also the centennial of the Eiffel tower and the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

The Arch is built in the east-west historical axis of Paris. Looking from it in a straight line you wil see the Champs-Elysees through the Arc de Triomphe, and further down the Tuileries gardens, the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Glass pyramid in the courtyard of the Louvre. However, the arch has been slightly angled (6.33°) from the historical axis, first because of the existing motorway under the business district (and the arch foundations), and secondly to give it more depth when seen from the Arc de triomphe in Paris.

The arch is shaped as an hollowed cube with dimensions of 112 metres long, 107 metres wide, and 111 metres high. In the empty space you could store the cathedral Notre-Dame.

It is made of concrete, with a 5-cm thick glass covering on the outside, a marble covering elsewhere. The weight of the Arch is 300,000 tonnes (US: "metric tons"). The foundations are laid on 30-metres deep pillars.

The roof has a panoramic room over the Défense district, but it is no longer permitted to visit. The site used to have 250,000 visitors per year before 2010, when it was closed to the public, for technical reasons due to the panoramic elevators. The elevators have been repaired since, but the French ministry of Ecology is now occupying the whole of the roof.