Culture in architecture

The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris and France.

The tower was born thanks to that and later bore the name of the person who had the greatest contribution to its creation - a French engineer named Gustave Eiffel. December 27, 2023 is the 100th anniversary of Gustave Eiffel's death.

In fact, Gustave Eiffel was only one of four people involved in the design and construction of this tower. They all registered the copyright but then gradually sold it to Gustave Eiffel. After the 1889 World Exhibition, Gustave Eiffel bought the commercial use of this tower for 20 years so the tower was not demolished immediately. During those 20 years, Gustave Eiffel proposed some new ideas for the tower and thus saved the tower from being demolished. Thanks to that, the tower still exists today.

Today, the Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of the capital Paris and an indispensable part of France. It charms and attracts domestic and foreign tourists to Paris. Paris is considered the capital city of love and the Eiffel Tower is considered a symbol of love and romance. More than a century ago, this tower was strongly criticized by many famous French artists such as Guy de Maupassant, Leconte de Lisle, Charles Gounod or Alexandre Dumas and demanded to be dismantled. They believed that this tower destroyed the unique beauty of the urban landscape in Paris, and that its appearance was anti-artistic and anti-cultural. They publicly stated in the press that this tower was a threat to the art and unique cultural traditions of France.

All of these people have long since passed away. If they were still alive in today's modern world, who knows how they would feel and think about the admiration that the French and people outside of France have for the Eiffel Tower. They certainly could not have imagined and would now be very surprised, even unable to understand why this tower has such great cultural, architectural and material value, so important to the capital city of Paris and France. Who knows how they would feel when they see people today not sparing beautiful words to praise and glorify the Eiffel Tower.

An architectural work over time becomes a symbol of the capital and the country, becomes a valuable part of the culture and history of the country. Similar stories are also seen in many other countries and places in the world. The only explanation can be that the birth of that architectural work is a product of its time, reflecting very fully but in its own way the concept of culture and the level of creativity and intellectual stature of people in that time. The process of leading architectural works built in ancient times to become symbols of the country and capital in the modern world reflects the historical evolution of those countries themselves, reflects the process of change in the awareness and evaluation of the people and society about the value and meaning of those architectural works, and then placing them in their rightful place in the history, culture and society of those places.

The Eiffel Tower is made of steel and can only last if it is regularly and carefully maintained. This takes a lot of effort. It has contributed a lot to France and the people of France, but everything has its price.

BANK

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