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posted by martyb on Friday May 17 2019, @07:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the Ooh-La-La!-20,000-Visitors-Per-Day! dept.

France: It measures 324 meters in height, weighs 7,300 tons and attracts more than seven million visitors each year: the Eiffel Tower, strongly contested during its construction, has become the symbol of Paris, which is celebrating its 130th anniversary this year.

This property of the City of Paris celebrated all over the world has not always been liked: its construction was accompanied by a "huge controversy, complaints and petitions" of opponents, says the deputy in charge of culture at the city hall of Paris, Christophe Girard.

On the occasion of the Universal Exhibition of 1889, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution, a great competition was launched, won by the industrialist Gustave Eiffel, much to the chagrin of many artists of the time including the writer Guy de Maupassant.

Built in two years, two months and five days, the one based on more than 18,000 pieces of iron is the symbol of a "technical and architectural performance". In the nineteenth century, "it is the symbol of a France that catches up with its industrial power" and becomes "the highlight of the 1889 exhibition," said Bertrand Lemoine, architect and historian.

https://www.asianage.com/life/travel/150519/130th-anniversary-of-the-eiffel-tower.html


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @07:43PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @07:43PM (#844822)

    Got to Paris with the schoolmates. One and a half hour just to get near the center, I can't imagine what it is like now, being culturally enriched.
    Finally, the tower.
    WOW! said absolutely nobody. An industrial looking thing with no architectural context whatsoever.
    Paris by day sucks. By night it is quite better looking, but it's like saying a girl looks better with makeup. Overrated like everything French (except the prostitutes).

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Friday May 17 2019, @09:13PM (1 child)

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Friday May 17 2019, @09:13PM (#844838) Homepage Journal

      It's highly overrated, that's so true. Has a good steak joint and that's about all there is to it. Trump Tower Chicago is much taller. Much bigger on the inside -- 2,600,000 square feet. And much more beautiful -- MASSIVE CURB APPEAL!!!! 401nwabashave.com [401nwabashave.com]

    • (Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday May 18 2019, @08:37PM

      by Phoenix666 (552) on Saturday May 18 2019, @08:37PM (#845126) Journal

      I have to agree with you. The Eiffel Tower is iconic. There's no doubt about that. But it's not beautiful like the Hagia Sophia or epic like the St. Louis arch. You don't sit there and admire it. It's a box you check, and then move on.

      Paris at large is rather like that, too. It's provincial, not dynamic. The place shuts down at 10pm, for chrissake. Its Beaux Arts apartment blocks are charming for all of 5 minutes before they disappear into tedium. Its avenues are broad and straight and long, but go nowhere of real interest. Its transit system is byzantine, broken, and reeks of urine. The people are prissy and ridiculously mistaken about their standing in the cultural hierarchy of mankind. Also, hordes of perpetually rioting Algerians don't add to the city's curb appeal.

      France has many fine regions and traditions, but Paris does not showcase them.

      --
      Washington DC delenda est.
  • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @10:10PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 17 2019, @10:10PM (#844853)

    The Moslems are looking for a new target after the "accident" at Notre Dame.

  • (Score: 2) by sshelton76 on Friday May 17 2019, @11:04PM (1 child)

    by sshelton76 (7978) on Friday May 17 2019, @11:04PM (#844871)

    I remembered reading about it being sold for scrap. Not once but twice.
    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/man-who-sold-eiffel-tower-twice-180958370/ [smithsonianmag.com]

    You'd think they'd just tear that eyesore down and replace it with a nice skyscraper or something.
    j/k I actually love that landmark. Lots of fond memories. Still it has some very interesting history behind it including the fact that it was built for the world's fair but couldn't be tore down because of the expense involved. This lead a lot of early Parisians to view it as an eye sore and they petitioned the government on more than one occasion to have it tore down to restore the original skyline. Glad that was one time government did not listen to it's citizens.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Saturday May 18 2019, @12:01AM

      by bob_super (1357) on Saturday May 18 2019, @12:01AM (#844884)

      Becoming a radio antenna saved it, then the tourists kept it profitable.
      Now, it's kind of the identity of the place, like it or not. That place on TV ain't Paris if they haven't shown the tower.
      Tourists don't realize that the view from the Montparnasse tower is a lot better, because from its top you don't see the Montparnasse tower.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 18 2019, @12:35AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 18 2019, @12:35AM (#844891)

    Next week it has an "accidental" fire. Following week macron praises plans to rebuild it out of bio-plastics and old wine bottles.

    • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Saturday May 18 2019, @05:10AM

      by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Saturday May 18 2019, @05:10AM (#844936) Homepage Journal

      I'll tell you, I'm a New Yorker. And I watched the horrible 7-11 attacks. Which made 40 Wall Street -- owned by me -- into the tallest building there. 40 Wall Street actually was the second-tallest building in downtown Manhattan, and it was actually, before the World Trade Center, was the tallest. And then, when they built the World Trade Center, it became known as the second-tallest. And then, terrible attacks, Trade Center came tumbling down. And mine became the tallest. But, so interesting. World Trade Center wasn't knocked down by planes. Didn't come down until much later. And, one of the buildings -- hundreds of feet away -- the planes didn't touch it at all. But it still went down. Not a pretty sight. I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as those buildings were coming down. They say, it was the heat that did it. And you had these pools, these puddles of melted Steel. Because, supposedly, of the burning Jet fuel. And the burning papers from the File cabinets. I don't think so. I don't think so. In Construction, we have something known as Nano Thermite. And that one can definitely melt Steel. And many people are saying, it was no accident that those buildings totally and completely collapsed. They're saying it was all planned out. Who knows? The folks that did it know. But, they're not talking. Think about it!!!!

  • (Score: 1) by einar on Saturday May 18 2019, @08:31PM (1 child)

    by einar (494) on Saturday May 18 2019, @08:31PM (#845125)

    Sorry folks, but recently, we have more and more bad comments. If your only contribution lies in feeble attempts of humor, please refrain from posting. There are tons of social media websites where you can attempt to be a stand up comedian.

    The Eiffel tour is one of a dozen buildings everybody on the planet who has access to electricity is able to recognize.
    And it was created during a period when geeks still expressed themselves in brick and mortar. It is called the "founders era". Back when it was not enough to build a factory, a house or a tower. You had to show off what you were able to do. It had to be a symbol. Just because you could! And what was supposed to be temporary for the world fair became one of the most iconic landmarks of the planet.

    What troubles me most is that I have the feeling we are no longer able to do such things. Relying entirely on business cases, we might have lost this spirit. To create something grand just because we can.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 19 2019, @09:58PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 19 2019, @09:58PM (#845350)

      obligatory pixies reference, with lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PXWIoI-1Wc [youtube.com]

      you're welcome, world!

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