La Defense by Fam_Stoica
The name "Defense" originates from the monument La Défense de Paris, which was erected at this site in 1883 to commemorate the war of 1870.In 1951, the Defense site was chosen as an office center. In 1958, development of the area was started by a special agency, the Etablissement Public d'Amenagement de la Defense. The first plan had 2 rows of skyscrapers of equal height. In 1964, a plan was approved to have 20 office towers of 25 stories each. Little of the development on the Defence was actually built according to this plan, as most companies started to press for taller office towers. The result is a mix of mostly cheap towers of different heights. The tallest of them, the GAN Tower, measured 200 meters.The height of several towers caused a public outcry as the forest of towers disturbs the view on the Arc de Triomphe. Partly in response to this criticism a new monument was built at the entrance of the Defense as a counterweight for the Arc de Triomphe - La Grande Arche de la Defense.
