La Défense & Grande Arche
La Défense & Grande Arche features on the Gingerguide audio walk through Paris. Give it roughly ~60 min: enough to look, hear a two to three minute story on the spot, and ask the AI guide whatever the story leaves open.
- Type landmark
- Suggested visit ~60 min
- Paris Paris guide
About La Défense & Grande Arche
Paris's modernist business district, anchored by the Grande Arche, a hollow cube 112 metres tall completed in 1989, aligned on the same historic Grand Axis as the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, and the Louvre.
La Défense is Europe's largest purpose-built business district, a forest of glass towers housing the French headquarters of dozens of major multinational corporations, Total, LVMH, Société Générale, rising abruptly from the flat western plain at the end of Paris's famous Grand Axis. At its western terminus stands the Grande Arche de la Défense, a 112-metre hollow cube of white Carrara marble completed for the bicentennial of the French Revolution in 1989, designed by Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen. The structure is precisely aligned with the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre pyramid, and the Tuileries gardens on the same axis, and is large enough that Notre-Dame Cathedral could fit inside the hollow centre. The rooftop offers panoramic views along the Grand Axis all the way to the Louvre.
Did you know? The Grande Arche's hollow interior is so large that Notre-Dame Cathedral could fit inside it, the arch is 112 metres tall, 108 metres wide, and 112 metres deep, making it almost a perfect cube.
How long is a visit to La Défense & Grande Arche?
Set aside roughly ~60 min for La Défense & Grande Arche. That covers a good look and the narrated story, and because you set the pace you can always stay on.
Is La Défense & Grande Arche worth your time?
La Défense & Grande Arche is among the 44 narrated highlights the Gingerguide team chose for Paris, so it is worth a look. Hear the story for the context, then ask the AI guide for anything more.
Nearby stops in Paris
Hear the story of La Défense & Grande Arche
Preview the Paris tour free in the Gingerguide app.