The government has now promised €200m (£160m) worth of "important renovation work" on the south side of the [Grande Arche de la Défense] to begin in October and last for two years. The Grande Arche was designed by Danish architect Johann Otto von Spreckelsen, who won an international competition to design a 20th century Arc de Triomphe but who was later forced through illness to transfer responsibility for the construction to French architect Paul Andreu. — the Guardian

Sited at the heart of France's main business district at La Défense, the enormous and impressive Grande Arche was always more than a monument to the triumph of humanitarian ideals over military glory. [...]

A quarter of a century on, however, the crumbling state of La Grande Arche de la Défense might be a metaphor for France's struggling economy. [...]

The government has now promised €200m (£160m) worth of "important renovation work" [...] to begin in October and last for two years. — theguardian.com