The construction work on the Eiffel Tower took two years, two months and five days

The novelist Marie Cravageot on the engineer Gustave Eiffel

On December 27, 1923, the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who still inspires the world with his constructions, died. He was originally a chemist. How did he become an engineer?

Cravageot: Gustave Boenickhausen (known as Eiffel) was born in Dijon in 1832, the son of a soldier in the Napoleonic army and an entrepreneurial and enterprising mother. He completed his studies in 1850 with the Baccalauréat ès lettres and ès sciences. He prepared for the entrance examination for the École polytechnique in Paris, which he failed in the oral examination. His admission then enabled him to enter the École centrale des arts et manufactures in 1852. The young Gustave hoped to succeed his maternal uncle, the chemist and industrialist Jean-Baptiste Mollerat, who ran a large acetic acid factory, and initially focused his education on chemistry. However, a family dispute put an end to his career plans. On the advice of his mother, the 23-year-old switched to the metal industry with an engineering degree in his pocket, but without really believing in it. Also thanks to his mother, he found his first job in railroad construction in February 1856 with the engineer and entrepreneur Charles Nepveu, whose company specialized in the construction of "steam engines, tools, forging, fixed and rolling stock for railroads and public works". At that time, the railroad was on the rise: the rail network grew from 3,000 km in 1852 to 40,000 km in 1912. The young man quickly became a confidant of his boss, who involved him in his research. Eiffel's professional future in steel construction was thus sealed.

He built his first large iron bridge in Bordeaux. What was special about it?

Cravageot: The Eiffel legend was born in Bordeaux in 1860, when the 26-year-old engineer oversaw the construction of a railroad bridge over the Garonne, the "Passerelle Eiffel". Gustave Eiffel's creativity and industrial achievements made France's image shine throughout the world. The Eiffel Bridge is the most industrial work of art in Bordeaux. The historic railroad line was named after its famous engineer. The bridge, which is one of the most important metal structures of its time, was designed between 1858 and 1860. Gustave Eiffel was a young construction manager at the time, for whom the project represented a real challenge. It was the young Gustave Eiffel's first showcase project. The need to build a railroad crossing of the Garonne, arriving in and departing from the major city of Bordeaux, is obvious. However, major technical difficulties made the program complex. The aim of the project was to connect the rail networks of Orléans and the Compagnie du Midi. Eiffel had to design a project that included a straight bridge of riveted sheet metal spanning a raging river, piers that could withstand the fluctuations and force of the tides, and a roadway over 500 meters long.

From an aesthetic point of view, Eiffel opted for wrought iron facades. This gave the bridge a unique, inimitable style that still attracts attention even after more than 150 years. The structure is now reserved for bicycles and pedestrians, as a new structure was built in its place in 2008. In addition to the practical aspect that the monument retains, it has become an important tourist attraction and a place of cultural exchange for all. The Eiffel Bridge is still considered one of the most symbolic bridges in Bordeaux.

He set up his own business in 1866 and received commissions for the World Exhibition in Paris as early as 1867. What were they?

Cravageot: Based on his first successful experiences, Eiffel decided to found his own company. In 1866, he acquired the company Ateliers Pauwels de constructions métalliques in Levallois-Perret, west of Paris. The company was awarded several major contracts for the construction of viaducts and buildings with steel structures or scaffolding. He did not hesitate to travel all over Europe to do so. The engineer's talent, his quick grasp of new ideas and projects and his ability to surround himself with brilliant employees contributed to the success of the Eiffel company. One of his company's first buildings was the machine gallery of the Omnibus Palace at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1867, followed by a phenomenal number of construction projects, all of which were incredible both for their technical challenges and their revolutionary aesthetics. These included the Budapest-Nyugati railroad station in Hungary (1875), the Basmane railroad station in Izmir, Turkey (1876), the steel frame of the main post office in Saigon, as well as numerous bridges, such as the metal bridge in Girona (Catalonia) and many more!

He also worked on the Statue of Liberty in New York, the head of which was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878. What was his task here?

Cravageot: In 1881, Gustave Eiffel created the iron skeleton for Bartholdi's Statue of Liberty. It is 46 meters high and intended for the roadstead in New York. It is designed like a bridge pier to withstand the wind and is doubled by a secondary truss structure with metal rods holding the outer copper sheets.

Built and assembled in France, the statue was given to the Americans by the French people as a token of friendship and was unveiled on October 28, 1886 in the presence of the President of the United States, Grover Cleveland, on the centennial of the American Declaration of Independence.

The sculpture was entrusted to the Frenchman Auguste Bartholdi in 1871. The huge pedestal had a total weight of 225 tons. Before Bartholdi died in 1879, he turned to the engineer Gustave Eiffel, who designed a metal pole to support the hammered and fixed copper plates. As the Smithsonian science magazine reports, 22 original sketches of the Statue of Liberty designed by Gustave Eiffel were recently discovered. They show the innovative design of the work of art. Thanks to Eiffel's ideas, the monument was able to withstand the strong winds and salty air of New York Harbor for over a century. The drawings also show that the arm carrying the burning torch was not initially conceived as we know it today.

The drawings mainly show Eiffel's designs for the iron framework on which the statue rests from different angles. They also include close-ups of key components, such as the material needed to attach the statue to its solid concrete base. Tables provide information about the weight of the individual components and the loads they must bear. In many places, handwritten calculations appear to have been made in the margins to make adjustments or corrections. In addition, the valuable documents confirm what historians have long suspected without yet being able to prove: Bartholdi ignored the plans that Eiffel had drawn up for the statue's right arm. While the engineer's sketches described a voluminous shoulder and a vertical arm, which guaranteed greater strength, Bartholdi ultimately decided to make the arm thinner and inclined outwards for purely aesthetic reasons. This can be seen in one of the sketches, which was corrected in red ink. By sacrificing strength in favor of aesthetics, Bartholdi exposed the statue to serious damage. In 1980, some engineers wanted to reinforce Lady Liberty's arm based on Eiffel's plans, but the idea was rejected by conservatives so that the statue would remain true to Bartholdi's artistic vision.

He realized the opening of one of his most famous monuments to date during the 1889 World's Fair in Paris. Which building is this?

Cravageot: In the run-up to the 1889 Universal Exhibition, Gustave Eiffel was actually thinking about a great project that he wanted to present to the world. He commissioned two of his employees, Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, to design a building that would impress the other nations. The two initially suggested a 300-metre-high metal tower. The tower would have no real use, except that it would be the tallest tower ever built. Gustave Eiffel asked them to revise the idea and suggested they enlist the help of architect Stéphane Sauvestre. This time he liked the plans. The tower would stand on four pillars in the four cardinal directions. It would have three floors and offer more than 1,000 visitors the opportunity to admire the beauty of Paris. But first, his application must win the competition organized by the government.

There were no fewer than 107 projects, some of which were very original or even completely absurd. One planned a watering can tower to cool down Paris during the heatwave. Another wanted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution with a giant guillotine 300 meters high. In the end, Gustave Eiffel won the election. Two years, two months and five days - that's how long it took to build the world's tallest tower.

Gustave Eiffel's organization was meticulously calculated. The parts were manufactured by workers in his workshops in Levallois-Perret. They were then assembled by 132 men on the Field of Mars. With an hourly wage of 80 centimes, the equivalent of 2 euros, they worked 9 hours in winter and 12 hours in summer. During the construction work, curious onlookers could observe the construction site from a telescope set up on the Pont d'Iéna. In the final months, the pace accelerated: the tower grew by one meter every day. Finally, the monument was officially completed on March 31, 1889. The 312-metre-high tower is an architectural masterpiece. When it was opened to the public on May 15, the first week of the exhibition, 30,000 visitors flocked to discover the Iron Lady.

The name Eiffel was a very prestigious one in professional circles. And yet he also suffered setbacks. His name is associated with Switzerland's biggest train disaster. What happened there in 1891?

Cravageot: The Münchenstein railroad disaster occurred on June 14, 1891, when the bridge built by Gustave Eiffel over the Birs River collapsed while a train from Basel was passing on the Jura line. The disaster, the deadliest in the history of the Swiss railroads, claimed 73 lives and injured 171 people.

The viaduct over the River Birs was built in 1875 and consisted of a single cast-iron arch with a span of 25 meters.

On June 14, 1891, a music festival was held in Münchenstein, the first station after Basel on the Jura line, to which several Basel clubs were invited. The village was a popular destination for the people of Basel, many of whom spent their Sundays there. Most of the participants took their seats on the 2.15 p.m. train, which was almost full with almost 600 passengers. The train consisted of two locomotives, followed by a first-class carriage, a second-class carriage, a mail coach, an ordinary box coach and seven third-class carriages. A few minutes after leaving Basel, the train turned onto the bridge over the river Birs. As the first locomotive crossed to the other side, the bridge arch suddenly collapsed under the weight of the train, plunging the engines and the first three carriages into the river.

Investigators examined the condition of the bridge, the quality of the steel and the construction of the structure. A newly founded institute, the Empa (Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research), had been conducting numerous experiments since 1880 to advance knowledge in the field of material strength with a view to the Swiss National Exhibition of 1883. In the case of the Münchenstein accident, the engineer discovered that Euler's column formula, which had previously been used to calculate the deformations of structures such as the railroad bridge and the maximum load, needed to be corrected.

Through his experiments with wind tunnels to investigate air resistance, he even pioneered modern aircraft construction at the beginning of the 20th century. Eiffel was a planner in every respect. A curious aside: he also had very specific ideas about marriage, which are barely comprehensible today, and he entrusted his mother with finding a wife for him. Did that work out?

Cravageot: This is indeed a special element, which incidentally is well told in the 2021 film Eiffel, in which the actor Romain Duris plays a melancholy, determined and somewhat gruff Gustave Eiffel at the height of his career. The movie begins after the worldwide success of the Statue of Liberty, when he lacks the inspiration for the 1889 World's Fair. He was a widower at the time - and met his childhood sweetheart Adrienne Bourgès for the first time in 20 years. Adrienne Bourgès, the daughter of a great merchant from Bordeaux, became Gustave Eiffel's fiancée in 1860. However, for reasons unknown to him, the engagement was broken off. He subsequently met several women, but was never able to marry. In the face of these many disappointments, Eiffel gradually lost patience. In January 1862, he wrote to his parents: "I am now on my sixth failed marriage. Then I would need a good housewife who doesn't annoy me too much, who cheats on me as little as possible and who produces beautiful, healthy children who would be mine. With a woman who meets these requirements, I would give up everything else, wealth, figure, spirit, etc.". The Eiffel parents immediately set about looking for a wife for their son and found an ideal candidate in the 17-year-old Marie Gaudelet. Gustave Eiffel was pleased with this choice.

From then on, she called herself Marguerite and lived with Gustave Eiffel like a good mother at her husband's service. She encouraged him greatly in his innovations and supported him admirably in his professional career. She died very young as a result of bronchitis, leaving Gustave Eiffel alone with their five children. Eiffel never remarried, but had a very important relationship with his eldest daughter, who also played a crucial role in guiding him through the challenges and technical feats of his career. Eiffel said that it was these three women - his mother, his wife and his eldest daughter - who made him who he was and who contributed greatly to his fame by always encouraging him to pursue his goals.

Uwe Blass

Marie Cravageot teaches French literature in the school of humanities and cultural studies. She is an expert on contemporary French literature.