The public will no longer be able to admire the perspective desired by François Mitterrand. The roof of the Grande Arche de La Défense closed its doors permanently to visitors on Friday April 28, announced its operator, the City One group, in a press release. The roof of the monument, located on the 35th floor of this office building inaugurated in 1989, previously housed an outdoor space, a restaurant and an exhibition space.
"The colossal operating costs linked to the complexity of the building will have overcome the opening to the public of this exceptional place", explained the group, which has operated the roof of the Grande Arche since 2017. The place offers, more than 100 m high, a bird's eye view of the business district and the capital. Previously managed by another operator, it was closed to the public between 2010 and 2017 for security reasons.
The City One group regrets in its press release a "painful but fully assumed decision", taken after "several years of investment" and "Covid crisis". According to the group, the roof of the Grande Arche welcomed "just over 111,300 visitors" in 2022, compared to "more than 230,000" before the health crisis.
Inaugurated for the bicentenary of the Revolution
"This unique place combines the safety devices of high-rise buildings (IGH) and establishments open to the public (ERP), thus making the specifications for safety and security, maintenance, maintenance of panoramic elevators, to name just a few examples, excessively restrictive and therefore very expensive without benefiting from any aid", justifies City One.
"If negotiations were initiated at our request to consider financial participation from our lessor and, or from the State to keep this place open, they unfortunately did not succeed," he added.
Inaugurated on July 14, 1989, for the celebration of the bicentenary of the Revolution, the Grande Arche was one of the major architectural projects launched by President François Mitterrand during his two seven years (1981-1995). Originally designed by Danish architect Johan Otto von Spreckelsen and engineer Erik Reitzel, it was completed by Frenchman Paul Andreu. The project was intended as a 20th century triumphal arch.
