Did you miss our talks about tourism and personalities combined? We are back and we suggest traveling in search of your heroes: Gustave Eiffel is today’s personality, the French engineer best known for projecting the Eiffel Tower, the greatest symbol of Paris today.
Gustave Eiffel was born on December 15th 1832 in Dijon. After attending the famous Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures, he went on to work as an engineer and an architect, projecting and overseeing the construction of many sites in France and all around Europe. Apart from the notorious tower that bears his name, he built bridges, theatres, palaces and churches that still stand and that reflect the uniqueness and modernity of Eiffel’s vision.
Evidently, we cannot separate the name “Eiffel” from Paris, the city of light. Much of its electric glamour comes from the giant metal structure that towers over the city and which can be seen from (almost) any place in the capital city of France: the Eiffel Tower.
The tower was built for the Paris 1889 World’s Fair and was the epitome of modernity and avant garde, even for the French! Actually, the mammoth building was not well received by the locals of the “Fin de Siecle”, who found it vulgar and grotesque, not to mention rather useless, despite its initial purpose: radio communication and lighthouse. It contained 18.000 metal parts, weighed 7000 tons and cost roughly 1 million dollars (80% of the cost in fact being sustained by Gustave Eiffel himself).
It seems that the architect truly believed in his vision and, despite the initial hostility, “La Tour Eiffel” would become the symbol of Paris. At 1000 ft in height, it remained the tallest building for 40 years, holding this position longer than any other previous construction. It receives 5 million visitors every year and has come to signify love and romance, many people coming here to propose.
It might be a cliche, but it’s a romantic one. So if you want to ask your loved one’s hand in marriage there, you can have Paris taxi transfers take you there anytime!
