The Montparnasse Tower is the tallest skyscraper in Paris (France), located in the Necker district (15th arrondissement). Its height of 209 m (or 210 m depending on sources) made it the tallest building in France for almost forty years, until the completion, in La Défense in 2011, of the First and Hekla towers.
Inaugurated in 1973, it was designed by the architects Jean Saubot, Eugène Beaudouin, Urbain Cassan and Louis de Hoÿm de Marien. It is part of the Tour Maine-Montparnasse real estate complex (EITMM).
Built on top of the Montparnasse–Bienvenüe Paris Métro station, the building has 59 floors.
The 56th floor, 200 m (660 ft) from the ground, is home to Paris Montparnasse, an observation deck owned by Magnicity, a French company which also operates the Berlin TV Tower in Berlin and 360 CHICAGO at the former John Hancock Center in Chicago. Visitors to the observation deck can also visit the scenic rooftop terrace or make reservations for the 56th-floor restaurant called Ciel de Paris.
The view covers a radius of 40 km (25 mi); aircraft can be seen taking off from Orly Airport.
The guard rail, to which various antennae are attached, can be pneumatically lowered.
The foundations of the tower are made up of 56 reinforced concrete pillars sinking 70 m (230 ft) underground. For urban planning reasons, the tower had to be built just above a metro line; and to avoid using the same support and weakening it, the metro structures were protected by a reinforced concrete shield. Long horizontal beams were installed in order to free up the space needed in the basement to fit out the tracks for trains.
The tower is mainly occupied by offices. Various companies and organizations have settled in the tower:
- The International Union of Architects, Axa and MMA insurers, the mining and metallurgy company Eramet, Al Jazeera
- Political parties have used campaign offices, such as François Mitterrand in 1974, the RPR in the late 1970s, Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! in 2016, Benoît Hamon since 2018
- Previously Tour Maine-Montparnasse housed the executive management of Accor.
- The 56th floor, with its terrace, bars and restaurant, has been used for private or public events. During the 1980s and 1990s, the live National Lottery was cast on TF1 from the 56th floor.
Address: 33 Av. du Maine, 75015 Paris, France.
The Montparnasse Tower Observation Deck is open 365 days a year, 7 days a week, from 9:30 am to 11:30 pm without interruption, so you can admire the city whenever you want. The last lift to the top leaves at 11:00 pm.
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