The Great Exhibitions

The International Exhibition Movement and Technological ProgressThe international exhibition movement was a product of the Industrial Revolution, a phenomenon that originated in Great Britain and which, by the end of the nineteenth century, had spread throughout the world. Industrialisation was a process that fundamentally transformed agrarian economies and created the world's first industrial societies (Meredith and Dyster 1999: 27). It was the foundation of the modern world and marked the most extensive economic and social change the world had seen.

The Industrial Revolution saw the number of manufactured objects in circulation within countries increase dramatically. These new goods were produced through a reorganisation of production, namely that of machine production in factories using inanimate sources of mechanised power. These changes transformed economy and society.

The impact on all aspects of society was profound, perhaps most obviously in the material wealth industrialisation engendered, though the distribution of the material benefits of the revolution was far from equal within societies. An extensive international economy emerged during the nineteenth century, being based on the expansion of world trade, capital flows, migration, communications and business.

In this rapidly changing world, the role of international exhibitions was to showcase globally the advance of technological progress, among other things. Four developments dictated the shape of international exhibitions and all of them related to the Industrial Revolution mass production, prefabrication, mass communications and urbanisation. The focus of the international exhibition movement was industrial trade and the upward progress of industrial civilization.

International exhibitions introduced to large audiences many products that we, in our modern society, now take for granted. They included the elevator (Dublin 1853), the sewing machine, silver electroplating and aluminium (Paris 1855), the calculating machine (London 1862), telegraphy and innovations in steel production, (Paris 1867), the telephone (Philadelphia 1876), outdoor electric lighting, the typewriter and the phonograph (Paris 1878), the gas-powered automobile (Paris 1889), motion pictures (Paris 1900), controlled flight and the wireless telegraph (St Louis 1904) and Kodachrome photographs (San Francisco 1915)

The Universal Exposition of 1889 (Exposition Universelle de 1889) was a highly successful international exhibition and one of the few world's fairs to make a profit. Its central attraction was the Eiffel Tower, a 300-meter high marvel of iron by Gustave Eiffel. Over eighty other structures on the Champ de Mars housed exhibits, including the impressive 1,452 foot long Galerie des Machines by Ferdinand Dutert. The fair attracted exhibits from Europe, South America, the United States, and the French colonies, yet in the final analysis it was a celebration of French achievements on the centennial of the French Revolution.

Interior of Gallery of Machines, showing machines being set up, Paris Exposition, 1889.

Palais des Machines Ferdinand Dutert, architect; Victor Contamin, engineerView of the interior.

This innovative iron and glass structure was the largest building in the exposition, enclosing fifteen acres. Its most extensive exhibit was that of Thomas Edisons 493 inventions. Referred to at the time as a "disconcerting industrial cathedral," the Palais des Machines was reused for the 1900 Universal Exposition and demolished in 1909

Le Palais de Machines.

Aerial view of Paris, France, from balloon, showing the Eiffel Tower at right center.

Gustave Eiffel, designer; Stephen Sauvestre, architect; Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, engineers This view was taken from the Trocadero Palace. The Eiffel Tower is the only surviving structure from the 1889 exposition.

View from the Seine. Gustave Eiffels tower was greatly criticized during its two-year construction period as being an "abomination and eyesore," its "barbarous mass" looming over the Paris skyline.When the fair opened, however, it became the most visited attraction and subsequently the grand symbol of Paris that it is today.

Palais des Arts Libraux, from beneath the Eiffel Tower Jean Camille Formig, architect

It has been called a technological masterpiece in building-construction history. Built in commemoration of the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower is one of the world's premier tourist attractions. It has been compared to the Great Pyramid of Giza and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome. Nothing remotely like it has ever been constructed. The tower is located on the Left Bank of the Seine River, at the northwestern extreme of the Parc du Champ de Mars, a park in front of the cole Militaire that used to be a military parade ground.

Garden underneath Eiffel Tower

Galerie Viveinne Toyshop- Paris

Eiffel tower internals

Eiffel tower inside elevator

The tower was built for the Paris World's Fair in 1889. When the French Government was organizing this event, a competition was held for designs for a suitable monument. Over 100 designs were submitted, and the World's Fair Committee selected the conception of a 984 foot (300 meter) open-lattice wrought iron tower. This design was the creation of Alexendre-Gustave Eiffel. He was a renown French civil engineer who specialized in metal construction. His previous works included an iron bridge at Bordeaux, the 540 foot (162 meter) Garabit viaduct, the moveable dome at the observatory in Nice, and the framework of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

Eiffel startled the world with the construction of the tower. In contrast to such older monuments, Eiffel's tower was completed in a matter of months with a small labor force. Eiffel made use of advanced knowledge of the behavior of metal arch and metal truss form under loading, including wind forces.

His results started a revolution in civil engineering and architectural design. With the completion of the tower, Eiffel earned the nickname, "magician of iron." The tower was almost torn down on several occasions and despite long and continuous protests, the tower vindicated itself aesthetically. With the advent of radio and television, the Eiffel Tower gained even greater importance as a transmission tower. For many years, it was the tallest man-made structure on earth.

This tower's dimensions are remarkable. The current height of the tower is 1069 feet (320.75 meters), which is about the equivalent of a 105-story building. It is still the tallest structure in Paris by a very wide margin. Its size is very deceiving since there are no other structures close to it. The levels accessible to the public are at heights of 189 feet (57.63 meters), or 19 stories; 380 feet (115.73 meters), or 38 stories; and 896 feet (273 meters), or 89 stories.

The base of the tower covers a square area of 328 feet (100 meters) on a side. One can stand in the center of the area at the base and look directly up at the floor of the second level, 38 stories above.

The tower is built of puddled iron (very pure structural iron), and weights 7300 metric tons. It is extremely light. The tower actually weighs less than the air that surrounds it! If a scale model of the tower one foot (30 cm) high were constructed, it would weigh only as much as a nickel (seven grams)! The four pillars supporting the tower are aligned to the points of the compass. Another unique feature is the tower's base. The four semi-circular arches required elevators to ascend on a curve. The glass-cage machines were designed by the Otis Elevator Company of the United States. These elevators provide visitors a fantastic view as they ride to the top of the tower.

This tower moves in the wind. On days with high, gusting winds, the wind can reach speeds in excess of 100 mph (160 kph) at the summit of the tower. Visitors can feel the tower swaying gently at the summit. Under such wind conditions, the tower is usually closed to the public, although there is always an engineer present at the summit to monitor telecommunications equipment. The magnitude of the sway in the tower, under worst-case conditions, is about six inches (15 cm).

There is no danger of the tower being damaged by wind-induced movement since it is designed to withstand movements easily five times beyond those produced by the highest winds ever recorded. Today, the movements are monitored by a laser alignment system. The tower also leans very slightly in bright sunlight, as one side is heated by the sun and expands slightly.

The Eiffel Tower was built for the International Exhibition of Paris of 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII of England, opened the tower. Of the 700 proposals submitted in a design competition, Gustave Eiffel's was unanimously chosen. However it was not accepted by all at first, and a petition of 300 names - including those of Maupassant, Emile Zola, Charles Garnier (architect of the Opra Garnier), and Dumas the Younger - protested its construction.

At 300 metres (320.75m including antenna), and 7000 tons, it was the world's tallest building until 1930. Other statistics include: 2.5 million rivets. 300 steel workers, and 2 years (1887-1889) to construct it. Sway of at most 12 cm in high winds. Height varies up to 15 cm depending on temperature. 15,000 iron pieces (excluding rivets). 40 tons of paint. 1652 steps to the top.

It was almost torn down in 1909, but was saved because of its antenna - used for telegraphy at that time. Beginning in 1910 it became part of the International Time Service. French radio (since 1918), and French television (since 1957) have also made use of its stature. During its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off of in 1984 by two Englishmen. In 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward. However, if its birth was difficult, it is now completely accepted and must be listed as one of the symbols of Paris itself.

The tower has three platforms. A restaurant (extremely expensive; reservations absolutely necessary), the Jules Verne is on the second platform. The top platform has a bar, souvenir shop, and the (recently restored) office of Gustave Eiffel. From its platforms - especially the topmost - the view upon Paris is superb. It is generally agreed that one hour before sunset, the panorama is at its best.

Eiffel and Aviation After the debacle of the Panama Canal with Ferdinand De Lessups, Gustave Eiffel began to experiment with enterprises to prove the usefulness of his tower. He had begun to develop a passionate interest in that which, at the turn of the century, was considered avant-garde science: meteorology, radiotelegraphy and aerodynamics.

In 1889, M. Eiffel began to fit the peak of the tower as an observation station to measure the speed of wind. He also encouraged several scientific experiments including Foucault's giant pendulum, a mercury barometer and the first experiment of radio transmission. In 1898, Eugene Ducretet at the Pantheon, received signals from the tower.

After M. Eiffel had experimented in the field of meterology, he begun to look at the effects of wind and air resistance, the science that would later be termed aerodynamics, which has become a large part of both military and commerical aviation as well as rocket technology. Gustave Eiffel imagined an automatic device sliding along a cable that was stretched between the ground and the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.

The limited capacity of the available measuring instruments, led M. Eiffel to a more sophisticated knowledge in aviation and, eventually, to wind tunnel experiments. He built a wind tunnel on the Champ de Mars, which was in use from 1909-1911. The tunnel was sufficient for lab experiments bit inadequate for the study of airplanes. However, with the help of several other engineers, Leon Rith, Lapresle, and Eiffel made over 5,000 tests in this lab. Almost all the pioneers of aviation tested in this wind tunnel.

In 1911, a better wind tunnel which is still in use was built and between 1912-1914, Eiffel began experiments with military equipment for WWI fighter planes. In 1917, the Eiffel Laboratory designed a very advanced monoplane chaser of which two prototypes were built in Breguet. One crashed due to pilot error. M. Eiffel was a contemporary of Samuel Langeley, the president of the Smithstonian Institute, for whom the NASA field center Langely Research Center was named. Much of Eiffel's work had gone on to help expand the science of aerodynamics. NASA used many propeller and wind tunnel experiments in their trainer planes for astronauts.

"Eiffel's execution had been marked by a deftness unique in the annals of great engineering projects. His clockwork precision had enabled him not only to meet his deadline, but to build the vertiguous structure with the loss of only one life, that of a worker who fell from the first platform while apparently showing off for his girlfriend after the bell had sounded ending the working day."

Eiffel, Alexandre Gustave 1832-1923, French engineer. A noted constructor of bridges and viaducts, he also designed the Eiffel Tower and the internal structure of the Statue of Liberty. He was initially charged with corruption in the 1888 scandal of Ferdinand de Lesseps's failed Panama Canal project. Lesseps (1805-1894), the successful promoter and construction supervisor for the Suez Canal (1859-69), later assumed presidency of the French company building the Panama Canal starting in 1881. Eiffel was hired to provide engineering services for the project.

Seven year later the project was forced into bankruptcy amid charges of corruption. Lesseps was sentenced to prison for misappropriation of funds, but the sentence was not carried out. Eiffel was cleared of all wrongdoing by a French appeals court in 1893. Nonetheless, he withdrew from commercial life and spent the rest of his years studying aerodynamics.

The liberal arts exhibited here included archaeology, anthropology, astronomy, chemistry, physics, medicine and surgery, precision instruments, transportation, military arts, and theater. Also included were the Japanese print collection of Siegfried Bing and an extensive Histoire du Travail (History of Labor).

The Golden Gate Bridge's 4,200 foot long main suspension span was a world record that stood for 27 years. The bridge's two towers rise 746 feet making them 191 feet taller than the Washington Monument. The five lane bridge crosses Golden Gate Strait which is about 400 feet, or 130 meters, deep.

The design of the Golden Gate Bridge echoes an Art Deco Theme. Wide, vertical ribbing on the horizontal tower bracing accents the sun's light on the bridge. The towers that support the Golden Gate Bridge's suspension cables are smaller at the top than at the base, emphasizing the tower height of 500 feet above the roadway. Coit Tower is another San Francisco landmark with an art deco design.

Linking San Francisco with Marin County the 1.7 mile-long suspension bridge can be crossed by car, on bicycles or on foot. The Brooklyn Bridge, completed 54 years earlier in 1883 and designed by wire rope patent holder John A. Roebling, was the first famous suspension bridge. It helped to define and add fame to New York City in much the same way that the Golden Gate Bridge has for San Francisco.

Brooklyn Bridge from the water

Brooklyn Bridge at SunsetThe Brooklyn Bridge is considered by many to be one of the greatest works of architecture in New York. It was the first bridge to cross the East River and connect the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Easily the most historic and fascinating of the five major bridges connecting the island of Manhattan to other shores, the Brooklyn Bridge is a synthesis of art and engineering. Even before it opened, the Brooklyn Bridge became a symbol of the greatness of New York and American ingenuity. It has been the inspiration for poets and artists.

On the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Bridge's completion the New York Times stated in it's May 24, 1983 edition: "The bridge's Gothic towers of granite were New York's first skyscrapers, for in 1883 they stood high above everything else on the skyline; its roadway provided a spectacular panorama of the city that could be obtained nowhere else. To see the city and the river from the Brooklyn Bridge was like flying"

Walking the bridge, especially from Brooklyn to Manhattan, is one of the best walks in New York City. With its elevated wide wood-plank pedestrian walkway marked with a line down the center to divide it into walking and biking lanes you are both separated from the traffic and raised to an ideal height for viewing both the Manhattan Skyline and Brooklyn Heights.

The Brooklyn Bridge design continues to serve as inspiration for bridges being built today. One bridge that in many ways mirrors the impact that the Brooklyn Bridge had on New York City was completed 54 years later and is located on the other side of the continent linking San Francisco and Marin the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Brooklyn Bridge measures 6,016 feet, including approaches. The river span passes the tower arches at an elevation of 119 feet, gradually rising to 135 feet above the East River at mid-span to allow the passage of tall ships.

The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge with two granite block Gothic inspired towers to support the cables. At the time of its construction these two towers were the tallest structures in New York.

John Roebling introduced the use of steel, rather than iron, for the four main support cables on the Brooklyn Bridge. Up till then steel had been used for construction of railroads but it had not yet been used for structures such as bridges.

Three members of the Roebling family were chiefly responsible for the design and construction, even the very existence of the Brooklyn Bridge John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling and Washington's wife Emily. John A. Roebling, bridge designer and owner of a wire-rope company, first proposed building a suspension bridge over the east river in 1855.

By 1869 all approvals and financing had been secured. The first of many disasters associated with the Brooklyn Bridge occurred when John Roebling's foot was crushed on a pier by an incoming ferry as he was examining locations for a tower site. Roebling later died of tetanus, also known as lockjaw (some say it was gangrene), as a result of his injury. John Roebling's son and Civil War hero, Washington A. Roebling, took over as chief engineer following his fathers death.

Dynamite was used for the first time in bridge construction while sinking caissons large, airtight cylinders where workers labored to clear away silt under the riverbed to support the towers. The foundations took three years to construct and work in the caissons was both miserable and dangerous. Fires, explosions and caisson disease (similar to the bends) took the lives of 20 men and left Washington Roebling paralyzed.

Roebling directed the completion of the bridge from his home in Brooklyn with the assistance of his wife. Emily Roebling studied higher mathematics and bridge engineering, making daily visits to the bridge to oversee her husbands engineers and builders. At the time of the completion of the bridge, many considered Emily to be the Chief Engineer. The Brooklyn Bridge opened on May 23, 1883. The $15.1 million cost of construction was more than twice the original estimate of $7 million.

Cars travel on the lower deck of Brooklyn bridge

Cables of Brooklyn Bridge

The Howrah Bridge which spans the Hooghly River, links Howrah to Calcutta.

The bridge was built between 1937 and 1943 to replace a bridge from 1874, and is said to be the busiest bridge in the world. It is 97 metres high and 705 metres long [1]. It is a balanced cantilever truss bridge currently used as a road bridge, but previously carried light rail as well. However, this bridge contains no nuts and bolts - all joins are through studs.

The famous Howrah Bridge: Also known as the Rabindra Setu, this cantilever bridge is an engineering marvel. It was built in 1943 and is 97 metres (295 ft) high and 705 meters (2,150 ft) long. It connects Calcutta to its twin city - Howrah. Howrah is an important industrial area and also serves as the railroad terminus of Calcutta. From dawn to dusk the Howrah bridge hums with activity which makes it the world's busiest bridge.

Official nameVidyasagar setuCarriesMotor vehiclesCrossesGanges,the local name is Hooghly,riverLocaleCalcutta,IndiaDesignCable-stayed bridge, fan arrangement, multicableLongest span457.20 mOpening dateOctober,1992

Vidyasagar Setu (commonly known as the Second Howrah Bridge or Second Hooghly Bridge) is a bridge over the Hoogli River in West Bengal, India. It links the city of Howrah to its twin city of Kolkata. The bridge is a toll bridge for vehicles.It is a cable-stayed bridge, with a main span of a little over 457 metres, and a deck 35 metres wide. It was built between 1978 and 1993.

Golden Gate Bridge and San Francisco at night

Palais des Beaux-Arts Jean Camille Formig, architect

Both the Palais des Beaux-Arts and the Palais des Arts Libraux were iron structures clad in plaster ornament. This gallery displayed French and international paintings and sculpture.

Palais des Beaux-Arts, interior Jean Camille Formig, architect View of the central sculpture gallery.

Since the mid-19th century, Universal Expositions were held in Paris every eleven years. In 1889, the event coincided with the centennial of the French Revolution. The commissioners rejected plans for a 300-meter-tall guillotine, selecting Gustave Eiffel's tower instead. They gathered a stunning array of exhibits and produced one of the most financially successful universal expositions ever.

Esplanade des InvalidesPanoramic view of the exhibitions from the French colonies.

The Golden Gate Bridge, completed after more than four years of construction at a cost of $35 million, is a visitor attraction recognized around the world. The GGB opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937 at twelve o'clock noon, ahead of schedule and under budget, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressed a telegraph key in the White House announcing the event.

"One of the greatest cultural buildings of the nineteenth century to use iron in a prominent, visible way was unquestionably the Bibliotheque Ste.-Genevieve in Paris, designed by Henri Labrouste and built in 1842-50. The large (278 by 69 feet) two-storied structure filling a wide, shallow site is deceptively simple in scheme: the lower floor is occupied by stacks to the left, rare-book storage and office space to the right, with a central vestibule and stairway leading to the reading room which fills the entire upper story.

Bibliotheque Ste.Genevieve, by Henri Labrouste, at Paris, France, 1843 designed, built 1845 to 1851. Interior of Reading Room.

View from southwest

Henri Labrouste. Bibliothque Sainte-Genevive. Paris, 1838-50

Henri Labrouste (b. Paris, France 1801; d. Paris, 1875) Pierre Francois Henri Labrouste was born in Paris in 1801. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1819 under Vaudoyer and Levas, and won the Grand Prix in 1924. From 1824 to 1830 he studied at the French Academy in Rome, where he developed his ideas on "romantic rationalism". He fell out with the Beaux Arts over his 1828 restoration study of the ancient Greek temples at Paestum

Labrouste believed that architecture should reflect society. Accordingly, his work reflects the rationalism and technical aspects of industrial society. His work also embodies the ideals of writer Victor Hugo, who believed that architecture is a form of communication, like literature, and that in "organic phases" of construction it expressed a coherent body of social belief.

Labrouste believed that architecture should reflect society. Accordingly, his work reflects the rationalism and technical aspects of industrial society. His work also embodies the ideals of writer Victor Hugo, who believed that architecture is a form of communication, like literature, and that in "organic phases" of construction it expressed a coherent body of social belief.