02700cam a22003253u 450000100060000000300070000600500170001300600020003000700050003200800410003704000110007804100170008905000070010610000340011324500190014726400510016630000470021733600260026433700260029033800360031650000310035250801420038352016080052553400500213365300320218370000320221585600650224785600430231299900190235577985UtSlPG20260610134816.0mcr n260607r20261887utu|||||o|||||||||||||| d  aUtSlPG 7afr2iso639-1 4aTH1 aLefèvre, Ernest,d1833-188913aLa Tour Eiffel 1aSalt Lake City, UT :bProject Gutenberg,c2026  a1 online resource :bmultiple file formats  atextbtxt2rdacontent  acomputerbc2rdamedia  aonline resourcebcr2rdacarrier  aRelease date is 2026-02-20  aClaudine Corbasson (This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica))  aLa Tour Eiffel by Gustave Eiffel is a historical pamphlet written in the late 19th century. It records a high-profile cultural controversy: a public manifesto by leading artists and writers denouncing the planned Eiffel Tower, paired with the engineer’s detailed rebuttal defending its conception, aesthetics, usefulness, and symbolic value.

The text opens with a protest letter to Adolphe Alphand, asserting that the proposed iron tower is useless and monstrous, a factory chimney set to disfigure Paris and dwarf its revered monuments; the signatories urge Alphand to intervene and, failing that, to at least bear witness to an honorable dissent. A journalist then summarizes an interview in which the engineer answers point by point: he notes the protest’s lateness given signed contracts and construction already underway, outlines the financial and concession arrangements, and argues that aesthetic judgment is premature before the work exists. He contends that structural necessity—especially resistance to wind—will yield elegant lines, invokes the appeal of the colossal (as with the pyramids), and rejects the idea that height “crushes” nearby landmarks. Turning to utility, he cites popular enthusiasm, scientific opportunities (astronomy, meteorology, physics, plant chemistry), potential wartime communications, and the tower’s role as a testament to modern engineering. He rebuffs the sneer of a “bolted sheet-metal column” and concludes that the monument would honor France as a nation of builders, not merely entertainers. (This is an automatically generated summary.)  pOriginally published:cParis: Le Rappel, 1887  aTour Eiffel (Paris, France)1 aEiffel, Gustave,d1832-19234 uhttps://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k7539850w/f1.item.zoom40uhttps://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/77985  c118705d118705