In 1889, Paris, France, was to host one of the world's biggest events at the time: the Universal Exhibition.
The theme of this edition of the fair is positioned as "Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Victory of the French Revolution", and the ambitious French government intends to commemorate the event by erecting a special and meaningful building on the Champ de Mars.
What to build? Previously, a "Crystal Palace" was built in London, England, and a Washington Monument was built in the United States, which won wide recognition and praise from the world.
British "Crystal Palace"
Washington Monument
France is holding its breath and must "surpass Britain to catch up with the United States" in this project!
Preparations began four years before the expo was held, and in 1986, the French government sent out an invitation and received more than 100 designs from well-known designers from all over the world!
Even if these design drafts are placed today, you will feel quite "avant-garde", and even brain-opening!
Just to name two examples:
It was proposed to build a huge guillotine (during the French Revolution, tens of thousands of "rebels" were guillotined and executed, most notably King Louis XVI of France!). The guillotine is, in a sense, indeed the most direct sign of the French Revolution! ）。
The guillotine, fortunately, this ...... was not built
There's also a proposal to build a 305-metre-high sprinkler, and you heard it right, it's like a shower shower. Can add humidity to Paris.......
Someone even designed a giant lighthouse with a giant electric light installed on it, so that people in Paris could read the newspaper at any time.......
In this crowd of wonders, no! Among the genius designs, the well-known architect Gustave Eiffel designed them, which was slightly acceptable to the French government.
Gustave Eiffel
At that time, Eiffel was already one of the most famous designers in the world, and his design and construction of the Bordeaux Bridge, the Budapest railway station, and the Statue of Liberty in the United States caused world-class madness!
The world-famous Budapest railway station
Eiffel's design concept is simple, a tower! All made of steel! It was twice as tall as the Washington Monument, the tallest building in the world at the time. Reach a record-breaking 300 meters or more!
First draft of the design
The French government is very fond of this "twice as big" design!
However, according to Eiffel's cost estimate, the tower cost a whopping $1.6 million (equivalent to $140 million today......
The French government doesn't have that much money!
The confident Eiffel patted his chest and assured that France would only use 300,000! The rest was paid for by Eiffel out of his own pocket, and in exchange, the built tower was run by Eiffel for 20 years!
The French government suddenly felt that the famous Eiffel was like a fool, so they immediately signed an agreement with him.
On January 28, 1887, construction of the tower began.
The news of Eiffel's construction of the Eiffel Tower in Paris spread all over the world, but it attracted almost unanimous opposition and abuse, including celebrities such as Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas!
A protest letter signed by hundreds of people "against the construction of the Eiffel Tower" was put in front of the stage of the French government, and the general content of the protest book was that Paris is the most beautiful city in the world, and a steel monster must not be allowed to destroy the harmony of Paris!
Soon scientists also began to object.
Mathematicians have calculated that after the Eiffel designed the tower reaches 228 meters, the base will be unable to withstand it and collapse!
Biologists have shown that the lights of the Eiffel Tower will kill all the fish in the Seine!
Meteorologists have theorized that the Eiffel Tower will completely change the pleasant climate of Paris!
.......
But Eiffel was unmoved, he led the team to draw more than 5,000 drawings and plan the steel parts of each tower, and he firmly believed that as long as he strictly followed his design, the tower would not only not fall, but would become a permanent landmark in Paris!
Take a look at the Eiffel Tower, which has set multiple world records!
It is 312 meters high, and 12,000 metal parts of various types are used, totaling 7,300 tons of steel!
Looking at the Eiffel Tower, growing taller day by day, the scolding is gradually decreasing, and people find that this steel monster is actually quite beautiful, and the French who advocate romance are easy to accept new things!
The construction site has become an "Internet celebrity check-in place", and people who come to Paris are willing to go here.
With the exposure of a number of leading processes of the Eiffel Tower, the Eiffel Tower has gradually become the pride of the French Industrial Revolution!
What's even more surprising is that after the Eiffel Tower was built, the Eiffel Tower earned a staggering $1.4 million during the 1889 World's Fair alone!
In less than a month, Eiffel not only recouped his capital, but also made a lot of money! After 20 years, the management rights are even more "honey-like"
More than 100 years later, the Eiffel Tower has not fallen! It also brings billions of euros to France every year!
What the designer did not expect was that in addition to becoming the world's most famous iconic attraction, the Eiffel Tower can also provide research basis for aerodynamics, material resistance, radio technology, etc.!
A few years after the Eiffel Tower was built, Maupassant, a great writer who once regarded it as a thorn in his side and a thorn in his flesh, and resolutely opposed it, dined in the restaurant on the second floor of the tower almost every day.
When people asked him the reason, he replied very interestingly: "This is the only place in Paris where you can't see the tower!" ”
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