A Brief Look at Gustave Eiffel

Now that France has elected a new leader, less anti-American than the last, maybe Americans will again feel a desire to visit Paris. . . and enjoy that most distinguished tower.

It has been a number of years since I had this memorable experience, but memorable it was. The cost depended on the level, the higher you wanted to go, the higher the price was, the tip of the Eiffel Tower is 985' high . . . very high. Being the frugal, land loving person I am, naturally, I only went to the second level. Patrons enter a lift, then are taken to their level and exit into throngs of others seeking the same experience. You must bear some crowding, especially when at the rails overlooking the ground far below. Even though, what a sight! It really does take your breath away! Both looking out from the tower and looking up or down into the mass of this gargantuan structure.

Gustave Eiffel (b. Dijon, France 1832; d. Paris, France 1923), graduated in 1855 from the Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures of Paris. He worked to build his own career as an engineer, and contractor. Although renowned for his construction of bridges of wrought-iron lattice work in the Victorian style, his fame is the name of the tower: the Eiffel Tower.

Having won the competition to build the attraction for the 1889 World's Fair, Gustave's vision would commemorate the French Revolution, and receive the ire of Parisians who felt the tower ugly and an assault upon their artistic sensibilities! The decision was then made to tear the offensive structure down once the festivities had ended. The popularity of the tourists, however, spared the tower this unhappy fate.

Built to add to the Paris skyline, its supreme structure, and magnificent beauty catapulted the tower into the ranks of Wonder's of the World . . . Now, it is the most notable monument in Europe.

As an expert and innovator of portable structures, Gustave Eiffel was instrumental to the armature of the Statue of Liberty, one of our most notable monuments. Gustave was even on-site in the United States of America to oversee the construction of Lady Liberty.

His biggest effort of monumental proportions had been the undertaking of the Panama Canal locks system, in 1887. He spent approximately two years on the project. But a scandal enveloped him and his company. After accusations of fraud, the company went bankrupt. Disgraced and disheartened, Eiffel withdrew from business. Gustave then went forward with research and scientific exploration in meteorology, radio-telegraphy, and aerodynamics, his monument making was over. The courts finally relieved him of wrongdoing but the damage had already been done.

Gustave came of age in an era of political discourse and general upheaval for France. I would imagine that the strength of his work and the mass of each structure goes to some innate belief that we will stand, and stand strong. Although he submits that his structures were built, logically, to withstand the forces of nature, he did allow that one can see beauty therein: "Now to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation, dictated it should be (...) will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole." -translated from the French newspaper Le Temps of 14 February 1887

At the time I had visited Mr. Eiffel's tower, I didn't know anything about the man . . . knowing now brings a deeper appreciation, and lends greater meaning to the experience. If you've been there, I hope you agree. If you haven't gone, I hope you will.