He was a shrewd businessman, a renowned engineer, but also created the quintessentially French symbol: the Eiffel Tower. Today Wednesday (December 27) marks one hundred years since death of Gustave Eiffel – at a time when the French held him in higher esteem than his contemporaries. Because in 19th century France, which honored the fine arts, his modern constructions were not liked by many.

Turning to the metal industry

Eiffel was born on December 15, 1832 in Dijon, in the era of industrialization. At the beginning of the 18th century his ancestors had left the Rhineland for France, where they became known as Eifel, although their name was Benickhausen.

Although Eiffel initially wanted to take over his uncle’s chemical factory, he was soon won over by the metals industry and began working for a civil engineer in 1856. Already at a young age, Eiffel was responsible for the construction of the Bordeaux railway bridge – a bridge over 500 meters long.

After his first successes, Eiffel moved to Paris, where he founded his own company at the age of 32. He is quickly becoming known, also due to his innovative designs. Iron, a stable and economical material that could be easily used in construction, is used more and more. Glorious years followed for Eiffel: he became a world-renowned engineer, building the Western Railway Station in Budapest, the Maria Pia Bridge in Portugal, the Viaduc de Garabit in France – as well as the metalwork of the Statue of Liberty in the US .

The first structure 300 meters high

The World’s Fair of 1889, coming to Paris, was the perfect opportunity for Eiffel. The brilliant minds that met at the exhibition and presented their technical innovations, tried for years to build a structure that would exceed 300 meters. A proposal for such a tower – of course made of iron – had also been presented to Eiffel. In a conflict between tradition and art on the one hand and modernism and technology on the other, the project found itself competing with a stone solar column designed at the time by the famous architect Jules Bourdet.

Prominent patrons of the arts viewed Eiffel’s work as a challenge. They could tolerate iron as a building material, but the fact that it was exposed to public view and not covered by some beautiful facade left them dumbfounded.

Eiffel Tower

Since the Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889, it has been threatened with demolition several times, but was eventually saved. Not only did Eiffel become the first person to build a 300-meter tower, but he also erected this technical masterpiece in record time: two years, two months, and five days.

A work ahead of its time

How highly skilled Eiffel was is also shown by the fact that his Tower in Paris was surpassed after more than 30 years by the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York in the early 1930s. An attempt to create a similar tower in London in the 1890s also failed. But Eiffel also received many blows. A bridge he had built in Switzerland, for example, collapsed in 1891, killing 73 people.

Today the criticism of the Eiffel Tower is long forgotten in France. The year is dedicated to Eiffel, in whose honor commemorative stamps are issued, conferences are held and special exhibitions are organized.

On the anniversary of Eiffel’s death, a concert is being organized at the Tower – to celebrate the memory of a pioneer who created more than 500 works in 30 countries and who with the Eiffel Tower managed not only to create one of the sights of France with the most visitors, but also a symbol – a trademark of the country.

Edited by: Giorgos Passas