Skip to main content

Gustave Eiffel Biography

Gustave Eiffel

(Alexandre Gustave Eiffel; Dijon, 1832-Paris, 1923) French engineer and architect.After graduating from the School of Arts and Crafts in Paris in 1855, he specialized in the construction of metal bridges.His first work of this type was carried out in Bordeaux in 1858; In 1877 he designed the impressive 160-meter metal arch of the bridge over the Douro, near Porto.A little later it surpassed its own mark with the Garabit viaduct, for many years the highest artificial laying in the world (120 meters).

Gustave Eiffel

Pioneer when considering the aerodynamic factor in its constructions, to the point of building the first aerodynamic laboratory in Auteuil, To his credit are works as diverse as the mobile dome of the Nice Observatory or the metal structure of the famous Statue of Liberty in New York.

However, his greatest achievement was the impressive steel tower located in Paris and which was named after him.The Eiffel Tower was built on the Champ de Mars in Paris for the Universal Exhibition of 1889.Today it is one of the best-known buildings in the world and has become the symbol of the French capital.

The organization of the Universal Exhibition, commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution (1789), was used by Gustave Eiffel to demonstrate to the world the technological advances in the architecture of his country through the erection of a tower 300 meters high and an iron structure.After the approval of the project (conceived by his collaborator Maurice Koechlin) by the competent body, it was erected on the left bank of the Seine, in the heart of Paris.The works began in 1887 and two years and 6,900 tons of iron were invested in its construction.

The tower stands on a square base of 125 meters, which has the four starting supports embedded in its corners in which the elegant arches that support the different floors are inscribed.The curves of the four sides provide an impression of strength and beauty and the gaps favor the passage of air, guaranteeing the stability of the building.Its large-capacity elevator system was the first to be installed in the world.Its 300 meters made it the tallest building in the world until the inauguration of the Empire State Building in New York in 1922.

Eiffel Tower

Its Construction aroused a heated controversy, as many considered it a crude structure lacking artistic sensibility.At the beginning of its construction, a group of intellectuals-among which Garnier and Zola stood out-signed a letter of protest addressed to the curator of the Exhibition, in which they complained about that "vertiginous and ridiculous tower that dominates Paris, like a gigantic dark factory chimney ".The composer Charles Gounod and the writer Alexandre Dumas Jr.wrote a letter of protest against the construction of the tower; the writer Guy de Maupassant left Paris to show his disgust.But once finished, many of the initial detractors were seduced "by the fantastic that delights our littleness.Planted on its arched legs, solid, huge, monstrous, brutal, it seems that, disregarding whistles and applause, it tries to seek and defy the sky, regardless of what moves at your feet."

Originally conceived as a temporary attraction, in 1909 it was bought by the French state.Later it was considered to be demolished due to high maintenance costs and the danger of future weakening of the structure by oxidation.However, the strong popular reaction to the idea that the tower, considered a national symbol, would disappear, led to the abandonment of this purpose.Nowadays, in addition to being a tourist attraction, the tower houses the facilities of the French Radio and Television and functions as a beacon for planes heading to Paris Orly airport.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Spanish Aid in the Independence of the United States

In the history of Spain, has often forgotten relevant events , perhaps because of that character that we Spaniards have in general, of not knowing or wanting to defend our own history. sinking ships that were not as was the case with The USS Maine , all in the interest of the US in Cuba. the Spanish Republican troops were the first to enter Paris, freeing her from the Nazi invasion, another unknown piece of our history.In this article we will know the importance of Spain in the Independence of the US, c omo Espana I collaborate, because it did. A part of our history that we have titled The Spanish Aid in Independence of the United States. Art Index iculo The Spanish Aid in the Independence of the United States To place ourselves in the historical context, the formation of the United States is mainly due to the so-called group of the Thirteen Colonies . These 13 colonies of British origin, had been founded during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, located ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fortunato Lacamera Biography

Fortunato Lacamera (Buenos Aires, 1887- id ., 1951) Argentine painter.Belonging to the group of painters from the La Boca neighborhood, he also contributed to the founding of the group for the promotion of art Impulso, of which he was president.His works show the streets, interiors and motifs of the waterfront.
Post a Comment
Read more

Giambattista Tiepolo Biography

Giambattista Tiepolo (Giambattista or Giovanni Battista Tiepolo; Venice, 1696-Madrid, 1770) Italian painter.He studied the works of Sebastiano Ricci, Veronese and Giovanni Battista Piazzetta, and imitated the chromaticism, with its violent chiaroscuro effects, of the latter.In his early ceiling paintings (Archinti and Dugnani palaces in Milan) he reaffirmed his decorative talent, based on architectural perspectives, trompe-l'oeil paintings and moving crowds. His first important work, the decorative cycle of the archiepiscopal palace of Udine (1727-1728), composed of biblical narratives, already denotes in the conformation of the figures (of great naturalism) and in the composition of the same contributions from the artist himself, although certain influences from Sebastiano Ricci and Veronese are still detected. Feast of Antony and Cleopatra (c.1743), by Tiepolo In Milan he worked in the Clerici Palace; in Venice he did it in the Scalzi church and in the Labia palace.The...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gaspar Gil Polo Biography

Gaspar Gil Polo (Valencia, c .1530-Barcelona, ​​1584) Spanish writer.There is very little news of his life.Part of his fame as a poet is that Cervantes dedicated a royal octave to him in La Galatea (1583) and Juan de Timoneda quotes him in his Sarao de amor (1561).His fundamental work is the Diana in love (1564), continuation of the Diana by Jorge de Montemayor. Illustration of Diana in love , of Gaspar Gil Polo Born into a family of municipal officials in Valencia, Gaspar Gil Polo became a lawyer and held various administrative positions in the city.Felipe II appointed him commissioner in the principality of Catalonia, so in 1580 he moved to Barcelona.He must have been known as a poet among his contemporaries, since Juan de Timoneda quotes him in a romance of 1561, but at present only some of his loose poems are preserved. In 1564 he published in Valencia the five books of Diana in love , a pastoral novel that constitutes a continuation of Jorge de Montemayor's...
Post a Comment
Read more

Gerolamo Tiraboschi Biography

Gerolamo Tiraboschi (Gerolamo or Girolamo Tiraboschi; Bergamo, 1731-Modena, 1794) Italian scholar.At fifteen he entered the Society of Jesus, where he remained until its dissolution.He taught at the Milanese academy of Brera, and in 1770 he was appointed prefect of the Estense Library by Francisco III, Duke of Modena.The large number of sources at his disposal allowed him to compose works of considerable scholarship; the main one was the History of Italian Literature (1772-1781). Girolamo Tiraboschi He later became the official advisor of the new duke, Hercules III.He expanded the Estense Library and belonged to various academic entities.Tiraboschi also wrote a series of works on the arts, letters and the historical evolution of Modena.His minor texts include Vetera Humiliatorum monumenta (1766), Biblioteca modenese (1781-86), Memorie storiche modenesi (1793-1794) and Dizionario topografico-storico degli Stati Estensi (posthumous, 1824-25). Published from 1772 to 178...
Post a Comment
Read more

Dukes of Medina Sidonia Biography

Dukes of Medina Sidonia (Or Medinasidonia) Castilian noble lineage that starts from Alonso Pérez de Guzmán, the Good (1256-1309).In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, his descendants extended their manorial domains through western Andalusia, around Sanlúcar de Barrameda and obtained the County of Niebla, as well as the position of major advance of the Andalusian border. It stands out among them Juan Alonso de Guzmán (1410-68), to whom Juan II granted the title of Duke of Medina Sidonia, who would henceforth carry his descendants: Enrique de Guzmán el Bueno y Meneses (?-1492) participated in the wars of the Catholic Monarchs against the Kingdom of Granada, standing out in the taking of Alhama and Malaga.He was succeeded by his son Juan Alonso de Guzmán el Bueno (?-1559), who participated in several expeditions against North Africa. His grandson Alonso Pérez de Guzmán (?-1619) was appointed by Felipe II to command the Invincible Armada, destined to invade England (1588); hi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Maria Linares Biography

José María Linares (Potosí, 1810-Valparaíso, 1861) Bolivian politician.He was Minister of the Interior and Foreign Affairs (1840-1841).He fought against Belzú, and in 1857 overthrew his successor, becoming president of the Republic.He proclaimed himself dictator (1858) and faced the power of the clergy and the army.In 1861 he was overthrown by three of his collaborators.
Post a Comment
Read more

Jose Mauri Biography

José Mauri (Valencia, 1856-Havana, 1937) Spanish composer.Installed in Cuba for most of his life, he founded the conservatory that bears his name there (1914).His work includes numerous songs and the opera The Slave (1921).
Post a Comment
Read more

Jan Hus Biography

Jan Hus (Also called John or John Huss; Husinec, Bohemia, 1369-Constance, 1415) Promoter of the Czech ecclesiastical reform.He was born into a poor peasant family in southwestern Bohemia.However, he managed to study Theology and Arts at the University of Prague and ordained himself a priest (1400).In 1402 he was appointed rector of the University, supported by the Czech particularist sentiment against Germanic domination. Jan Hus Under the influence of the English heretic John Wycliffe, Hus began in 1405 to preach against the excessive wealth of the Church and the immorality of the clergy, demanding a return to the purity of the evangelical message, preaching in the Czech language that the people could understand, and communion under both species.Its influence was increased by the crisis in which the Church of Rome was plunged by the "Schism of the West", as well as by the Czech nationalist reaction against the German minority (started with the struggle for control of ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Clément Ader Biography

Clément Ader (Muret, 1841-Toulouse, 1925) French aeronautical engineer.Already in his childhood he designed a large kite that could lift adult men off the ground.Ader was inventive, and in his youth he made a velocipede with rubber wheels and a balloon that he built during the Franco-Prussian War and that he gave to the city of Toulouse at the end of the war. In 1876 he left his job at the Administration des Ponts et Chaussées (Ministry of Bridges and Roads), he moved to Paris and devoted himself to communications.In 1880 he collaborated in the installation of the first private telephone line in the city, using components designed by him; one of them was the Théâtrophone , with which you could listen to opera from your own home.All of this brought him great income. Ader observed the flight of numerous species of birds and bats, which he captured and kept in facilities built in his own home.His purpose was to achieve a machine with a lifting force such that it counteracts that o...
Post a Comment
Read more