On June 18, 1973 and after 4 years of work, the end of a sprawling project was celebrated: the Montparnasse tower, located on the edge of the 6th, 14th and 15th arrondissements of Paris. A pharaonic project, embodied by figures: 2,000 parking spaces, 7,200 windows, 27 elevators and 59 floors. All of this, surrounding a 210 m high tower, positioning it just behind the tour EiffeL ! Technical feats, certainly, but also aesthetic, sociological… and very political questions.
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Lecture listen 37 min
A jubilant inauguration? Not really. Let us say rather in a certain indifference – even a certain embarrassment. Because finally, who let this gaping hole, as big as 8 seats in the Concorde ? And started to erect this monumental and solitary tower, which some describe as “traumatic”? Before her, the district was embodied by the arrival of the Bretons in Paris in the 19th century; but also by the presence, so fertile in the Roaring Twentiesmany artists. 50 years later, it is no longer Soutine, Lee Miller or Modigliani who haunt its streets. A completely different figure has been established there: that of the American businessman, and the French consumer. A much less admirable ideal.
Behind this paradigm shift… the State. Who, of René Coty has Georges Pompidoupassing through the General De Gaulle, dream of a modern France, symbol of thirty glorious where everything seems possible. An ideal that quickly dated, embodied by bars, slabs and highways – where the tower would have been like a setting. In truth, a sin of pride which will be slapped by modernity – the very one which saw its birth.
A documentary account of Sophie Bober
Guest:
Virginie Picon-Lefebvrearchitect and urban planner; author of numerous works devoted to public spaces – notably, Paris modern city (Norma, 2003)
Documentary Sources:
Livres :
Sylvie Andreu and Michèle Leloup, The Montparnasse Tower, I love you neither (La Martinière, 2013)
Virginie Picon-Lefebvre, Paris modern city (Norma, 2003)
Jean-Marc Labordière, Recognize the facades (Charles Massin, 2000)
Documentary:
The Montparnasse Tower, a French-style skyscraper, by Pierre-Nicolas Durand, produced by France TV and Temps noir in 2023.
Thanks to the Radio France documentation for consultation of the period press.
Discography:
SERGE GAINSBOURG New York – USA 1964
ALAIN SOUCHON Left Bank 1999
ZAHO DE SAGAZAN O through 2024
