How was the Eiffel Tour built and how was it intended to be destroyed? 1885–1900

Abstract

The aim of the competition – announced on 1 May 1886 – for the urban design of the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889 was selected the most interesting project, implementing the idea of creating a central point for organizing the communication of the exhibition. The planned project was to have a special setting, as celebrating the centenary of the Great French Revolution. The intention was to build a iron tower located on the Fields of Mars/ Champs de Mars. Its creators wanted to explore the structural and engineering possibilities embodied in a building that seemed to serve the glory of the French builders of the second half of the 19^th century. Gustave Eiffel presented a project made with the participation of three other engineers from his studio, which was selected for implementation. It was a iron structure in the shape of slander tower, measuring about 312 meters high. Built in less than two years, it remained the tallest building in the world for four decades. This article is primarily to the controversy that the tower aroused among French intellectuals when it was accepted by crowds of visitors. The newspaper “Le Temps” (January 1887), two years before the opening of the 1889 Exhibition, published a letter signed by the most prominent names of the French artistic and intellectual world, demanding the rejection of the tower, considering it totally incompatible with the historical architecture of Paris. Gustave Eiffel, in the same newspaper, polemicized with opponents, highlighting the beauty, nobility of form, modernity and usefulness of the already emerging construction. The most intense attempts to transform the Tower of Paris took place during the preparations for the next World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Subsequent part of the text, illustrated with documentary material, deals with attempts to demolish or rebuild the Eiffel Tower and finally preserve it in its original, as confirmed by history, perfect shape.