CITIES AND THEIR FAMOUS MONUMENTS: PARIS, AN ARCHITECTURAL LOVE SAGA.
- Malika Vaidya
- Apr 18, 2021
- 4 min read
The city of romance and light, Paris is an emblem in the world of art and architecture. With its cobbled streets, lamp-lit bridges and art nouveau cafes retaining the old-world charm, the city is home to some of the most iconic structures in the world. From the wrought-iron Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Notre Dame cathedral to the Louvre museum, we are discovering the art and architecture of this magical city.
EIFFEL TOWER
Built by Gustave Eiffel’s company in 1889 as a part of the World’s Fair to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower has become synonymous with Paris’s identity. The massive latticed iron structure, known locally as the ‘Iron Lady’, continues to serve as a broadcasting station and is considered an architectural wonder around the world.
While Eiffel often receives full credit for the monument, the original plan for the tower was conceptualised by one of his employees- a structural engineer, Maurice Koechlin, which was rejected as it lacked ornate embellishments. The addition of decorative arches to the base of the tower along with a glass pavilion on the first floor by Sauvestre, won over Eiffel support, finalising the design.
The finalised design faced criticism from many artists and Parisians as the design was deemed structurally unsound and was considered as an eyesore. The famous novelist, Guy de Maupassant, often ate lunch in the restaurant at the base of the tower, as it was the only point from which he could avoid glimpsing the silhouette of the tower.
As part of the rules for the World’s Fair, the tower was intended to be a temporary exhibit that was to be torn down in 1909. Hence, the design and construction used 18,000 pieces of puddled iron, a type of wrought iron, riveted together by 2.5 million rivets, which could be dismantled after 10 years. But the city officials opted to save the tower as they recognised its value as a radiotelegraph station.
The tower today has three levels open to the public, the first and second levels have restaurants while the top upper platform is an observation deck. These levels can be accessed either by stairs or by one of the eight lifts. The cables of the lifts were famously cut off by French resistance fighters during the German occupation of Paris so that the Nazis were compelled to climb the stairs to reach the top of the tower.
Over the years, the Eiffel tower has become a permanent and the most recognised feature of the Paris skyline. It has been the site for various events, stunts and even scientific experiments such as the experiment conducted by Theodor Wulf, which led to the study of the effects of Cosmic rays.
What was once conceptualised to be an exhibit of a temporary nature, the Eiffel Tower has found a permanent and iron-clad place in the history and architecture of the world.
THE LOUVRE
The Louvre museum is the national museum and art gallery of France located on the right bank of the Seine river and is part of a large castle built by Philip Augustus in the 12th and 13th centuries. The original castle was razed by Francis I in 1526, and a royal residence called the Louvre was built on the site. The site remained the royal residence of the French kings, with every successor adding to the structure, until Louis XIV chose the Palace of Versailles as his royal residence in 1682. The Louvre was then converted into a place to display the royal collection and was used as a residence for artists under royal patronage.
The idea of the Louvre becoming a public museum originated in the 18th century and it was during the French Revolution, that the assembly declared the Louvre would be transformed into a public museum. With the imprisonment of Louis XVI, the royal collection in the Louvre was declared national property.
The museum, Musée Central des Arts in the Grande Galerie, was opened to the public in 1793 by the revolutionary government and it continued to add to the collection over the years. But, it was under Napoleon I, that the museum and its collection grew exponentially through looting, military campaigns, and as collateral for treaties. A wing to the north, Cour Carrée, other major wings, their galleries and pavilions were completed over the next century. The completed Louvre was a vast complex of buildings that formed two main quadrilaterals enclosing two large courtyards.
The louvre complex underwent major restorations and additions during the 1980s in order to make it more accessible to the visitors. For this, a vast underground complex of offices, shops, exhibition spaces, storage areas, parking areas, an auditorium, etc was constructed under the central courtyards of Cour Napoleon and Cour di Carrousel. The entrance to the underground complex was located in the centre of Cour Napoleon and was crowned by the steel and glass pyramid designed by architect I.M Pei.
A controversial design at the time, the steel and glass pyramid was met with similar cynicism as the Eiffel Tower. The modernist style of the pyramid was accused of alienating the history of the Louvre and being inconsistent with the French Renaissance style. Further, the form was reminiscent of the Great Pyramids, considered to be a symbol of death in Egypt. Today, the steel and glass pyramid has become synonymous with the Louvre’s identity and serves as an entrance to the vast complex underneath.
The two structures which met both criticism and cynicism for being bold attempts of technological and architectural innovations in their time have proved to be an indispensable part of the Parisian and world culture today.
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