Eiffel Tower

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel
1889



Eiffel, an engineer-architect who designed bridges, exhibition buildings with exposed metal work, and even the interior armature for the Statue of Liberty, received this commission for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. (left image photographed by my mother, M. Mildred Miller)

Built of wrought iron, it is 984 feet tall, the tallest structure in the world until the Empire State Building was erected several decades later. This metal skeletal structure of 15,000 metal parts has both rectilinear and curvilinear ornamentation in iron. (See below.)
 
 

The base

The tapered shaft rests on four legs which spring upward. These supports are oriented to the four points of the compass.




Click here to return to index of art historical sites.

Click here to return to index of artists and architects.

Click here to return to chronological index.


Copyright © Mary Ann Sullivan. I have photographed (on site), scanned, and manipulated all the images on these pages. Please feel free to use them for personal or educational purposes. They are not available for commercial purposes.

Page created by Mary Ann Sullivan