Eiffel Tower Construction 1887-1889 Paris Photos

Archival photographs detailing the making of the Eiffel Tower.

Inspirational, a poetic marvel and unquestionably the most beautiful and beloved tower in the world, the Eiffel Tower is an engineering and architectural masterpiece and the iconic symbol of Paris and of France..

Today tour Eiffel welcomes 7 million visitors a year, making it the most visited monument in the world. Over 300 million visitors have come from all over the world to see the Eiffel Tower since its opening in 1889.

"A thick cloud of tar and coal smoke seized the throat, and we were deafened by the din of metal screaming beneath the hammer. Over there they were still working on the bolts: workmen with their iron bludgeons, perched on a ledge just a few centimetres wide, took turns at striking the bolts (these in fact were the rivets). One could have taken them for blacksmiths contentedly beating out a rhythm on an anvil in some village forge, except that these smiths were not striking up and down vertically, but horizontally, and as with each blow came a shower of sparks, these black figures, appearing larger than life against the background of the open sky, looked as if they were reaping lightning bolts in the clouds." ~ Emile Goudeau describes the spectacle visiting the construction site at the beginning of 1889.

All the elements were prepared in Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. Each of the 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower were specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre and then put together forming new pieces around five metres each. A team of constructors, who had worked on the great metal viaduct projects, were responsible for the 150 to 300 workers on site assembling this gigantic erector set.

The uprights rest on concrete foundations installed a few metres below ground-level on top of a layer of compacted gravel. Each corner edge rests on its own supporting block, applying to it a pressure of 3 to 4 kilograms per square centimeter, and each block is joined to the others by walls.

On the Seine side of the construction, the builders used watertight metal caissons and injected compressed air, so that they were able to work below the level of the water.

Its history is interesting, the construction lasted 2 years, 2 months and 5 days and was a veritable technical and architectural achievement. "Utopia achieved", a symbol of technological prowess, at the end of the 19th Century it was a demonstration of French engineering personified by Gustave Eiffel, and a defining moment of the industrial era.

Photographers: Louis Emile Durandelle; Henri Riviere; Freres Neurdein; Hyacinthe Cesar Delmaet; Theophile Feau; Roger Viollet.

video: Stephen Smith
mycompasstv ~ travel + arts + lifestyle

[BrighterFuturProds]

Amazing... The tower is still going strong... Thanks

[catherinemorrin]

Beautiful film 👏💗 I've been to Paris (2012) & went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, wonderful views of Paris. The Tower is absolutely beautiful, I'd always wanted to visit Paris and couldn't not see the Tower too even though I waited in a queue for 2 hours 😀 😄 worth it though!

[ibgeorgeb]

My goodness. What an achievement and such brave workers. I’ve always been impressed by the Eiffel Tower. 👌🏾

[wingedpegasus]

A dramatic look at a dramatic project!

[canonicus]

Fantastiques vieilles photographies. J'aime les travailleurs courageux qui s'équilibrent sans harnais de sécurité. VIVE LA FRANCE!

[ilonaktravels]

Incroyable! The magnificence of this glorious treasure is beautifully captured through this video that is so thoughtfully pieced together. Merci beaucoup!!

[jamesmarston]

Really interesting and to the point great video 👍👍👍 the Eiffel is very intricate intamite ❤️

[Kamil-lnqv]

The picture quality is wery good for the year 1887-1889.

[Seaquest]

Awe struck! the antiquity, quickly rushes over you, to turn back the hands of time, placing you in a period, where vertical constraints, gave way to ever dizzying heights!– (Rated, ''high entertainment value.'')

[robjackson]

I know the tower was painted in red as it was constructed, but was it opened as a red tower, or was it repainted as reddish-brown when it was finished, before opening?

[BennyMcGhee]

The 20th Century saw so many horrors…these cats were 55 years away from WWII. One can only imagine the further horrors in store for us in the early 21st century!

[Jabami-san]

Wah Jadi Ingat Anime Violet Evergarden!.

[NicholasANappiNick]

Not much in the way of safety in those days

[zanity]

I literally dreamed about me sitting really high up the Eiffel Tower while construction was going on, fell down and woke up

[josephcarioggia]

So they didn't use a crane? Just carried it all up there?

[Seaquest]

So high up, i got a nose bleed, just from the photos!

[macroni]

Weird thing is how did the picture back then is high graphics

[dashcameraro]

The Eiffel Tower, one of the symbols of Paris, was built according to a revolutionary technology in the 19th century, invented by the Romanian engineer Gheorghe Pănculescu. It is assumed that the steel from which the tower was built was also brought from Romania.

Probably the most famous symbol of France is the Eiffel Tower. This is a three-story construction, made of steel, and attracts 5.5 million visitors annually. It has a height of 300 meters, which varies depending on the atmospheric conditions. The variations are caused by the contraction or expansion of the metal alloy.

This symbol of France was built in the period 1887-1889, being inaugurated on March 31, 1889, on the occasion of the centenary of the French Revolution. The tower was the work, as the name suggests, of the French construction company, led by the famous engineer Gustave Eiffel. Gustave Eiffel and the architects Émile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre worked on the project.

Although it weighs 10, 000 tons and required over 18, 000 pieces of steel, the tower was completed in just two years and for that period, with a minimum of worker deaths during the work. More precisely, only one worker died, during the assembly of the elevator, which at that time was operated by a hydraulic system. What few know is that the safety of the construction of the tower and the possibility to raise such a very heavy structure in record time and without collapsing is due to a Romanian engineer. His name was Gheorghe Panculescu. Gustave Eiffel himself admitted that the erection of the tower was possible thanks to an engineering invention by Pănculescu. 🇫🇷 🇹🇩

[jamesmarston]

I'm so burnt ata the roof adds ugh!!!

[manlike]

Gonna go up there with fone case rapped in duck tape so looks like bomb then at the top take a kid hostage and go in the apartment at the top and pull out a cigar and whiskey then get like 12 years in dah pen but do 6 lol