Introduction
Located 10 km west of the Louvre in the axis of the Champs-Élysées, La Défense (pop. 20,000) is Paris' modern business district. 16 skyscrapers above 150 metres and many other shiny glass-and-steel buildings are concentrated around the 110m-high Grande Arche, a monument to humanity and humanitarian ideals completed in 1989.
The tallest buildings is currently the Tour First (ex Tour AXA) at 231 metres. It might soon be overtaken by the twin towers of Hermitage Plaza (323m), planned to be constructed for 2016.
The whole neighbourhood possesses 3,500,000 square metres of offices, divided in 12 sectors. La Défense has 1,500 businesses (14 from the national top 20 and 15 from the global top 50), 180,000 employees, 2,600 hotel rooms, and 2 million business travellers annually.
Companies with main offices in La Défense include notably Areva, AXA, Ernst&Young, GDF Suez, IBM, Société Générale and Total.
La Défense at night.
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