World Fairs, or universal exhibitions, exist since the industrial revolution in the 19th century. Since 1931, they are overseen and regulated by the International Bureau of Expositions. The first World Fair was held in London in 1851. It is said to have been inspired by the French Exposition nationale des produits de l’industrie agricole and the Exposition des produits de l’industrie française, the latter having existed since 1798.
Prior to 1931, 20 World Fairs were held, five of those in Paris. As in other countries, these Expositions universelles, despite consisting mostly of temporary structures, have left a mark on the host city.
1855
The Palais de L’Industrie was built on the Champs Élysées. It was inaugurated by Napoléon III and was the emblem of the World Fair which had over five million visitors. Contrary to the Crystal Palace of the 1851 London World Fair, the Palais de l’Industrie was meant to become a permanent exhibition space.
1867
The second World Fair to be held in Paris took place on the Champ de Mars, as decided by emperor Napoléon III three years prior. The transformation of Paris by Baron Haussmann had just been completed. On the Champ de Mars, a military site, a giant oval building was constructed, the Palais Omnibus. A young entrepreneur specializing in metallic structures, was tasked with building the galérie des machines, where cranes, weaving looms, machine tools, power hammers, locomotives etc. would be displayed. His name was Gustave Eiffel.
1878
The third Paris World Fair was again held on the Champ de Mars. For the occasion, the Palais du Trocadéro was built on the opposite bank of the Seine, on the Chaillot hill (la colline de Chaillot).
No longer does the Palais du Trocadéro stand on the colline du Chaillot!
One of the main attractions of the exhibit was the head of the Statue of Liberty, and among the inventions presented was Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone.
1889
The tenth World Fair and fourth to be held in Paris, celebrated the centenary of the French Revolution. As a result, European monarchies refuse to attend. However, some of them were represented by private initiatives. The Fair was held mainly on the Champ de Mars but also on the Esplanade des Invalides.
Champ de Mars
Esplanade des Invalides
Its main attraction, while controversial at the time and destined to be dismantled after the end of the fair, can still be visited there today.
1900
The fifth Paris World Fair was no longer restricted to the Champ de Mars. While previous World Fairs already includes the Jardins du Trocadéro on the south-eastern slope of the Colline de Chaillot and the Esplanade des Invalides, this fair also occupies the riverbanks on both sides of the Seine, from the new Pont Alexandre III to the Pont d’Iéna.
Pont Alexandre III with Grand Palais in the background
While the Pont d’Iéna links the Champ de Mars to the Trocadéro, the Pont Alexandre III links the Esplanade des Invalides on the left bank to the Champs Élysées on the right bank. Two palaces were built for this World Fair in the place of the Palais de l’Industrie, demolished in 1896: the Grand Palais and the Petit Palais.
Aerial view of the Grand and the Petit Palais
The Petit Palais
Of those five Expositions universelles held in Paris, it is the 1900 one that has left behind the most landmarks and structures still in existence. Not only the Pont Alexandre III built in a way to allow for a view from the Champs Élysées past the Grand and Petit Palais and across the river to the Esplanade des Invalides and the Invalidesitself, but also the Gare d’Orsay (today Musée d’Orsay), the Statue of Liberty on the Pont de Grenelle, and, above all, the first sections of the Métropolitain, inaugurated on July 19, 1900.
The Musée d’Orsay still looks like the train station it once was.
The Statue of Liberty on the Pont de Grenelle
early métro trains looked like this
Take a ride on métro line 1, the first métro line which, at its inauguration in 1900, ran from Porte de Vincennes to Porte Maillot.
To celebrate, I’ll go back to the beginning and share some fun facts of the Eiffel Tower.
The Tower takes its name from its architect, Gustave Eiffel.
Construction of the Tower took 2 years.
It was built for the World Fair of 1889, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.
Originally 312m high, the Eiffel Tower was the highest building in the word l for 40 years.
The highest viewing platform, the upper level of the third floor, is at 279,11m, the highest observation platform in the European Union and the second-highest in Europe:
The antennas at the top of the tower are used for the transmission of radio and digital tv signals.
For the fireworks of the national holiday Bastille Day on July 14, the Eiffel tower is incorporated into the show.
On Saturday, January 16, 2021, Paris woke up in the snow. We don’t have snow very often here, and when it falls, it rarely stays on the ground due to everything that heats up the ground, from the rarely-below-0°C temperatures to the métro and other underground installations. I’ve been living here for twenty years, and I can count the number of days where the snow actually covered the ground on my hands.
In January and March 2013, we had a bunch of snow days, and again for two days in February 2018. Every other snowfall in the last decade has been negligible. Hence the excitement of visitors, the confusion of unused-to-snow locals (without adequate footwear), the amusement of Montrealers, and the desperation of overground public transport drivers.
A is the first letter of the Latin alphabet, which makes it a logical starting point for a blog titled “Letters From Paris (And Other Missives)”. Coincidentally, the most famous landmark of Paris also looks like the letter A.
So let the Eiffel Tower be my first letter from Paris. There will be more, and there will be other missives, as my title promises. I have lived in Paris for almost twenty years now, and my husband is a born-and-bred Parisian and a history buff to boot. Some time ago, a Canadian friend’s college-aged son was in town, and we treated him to a 13km unstructured history walk through parts of the Right Bank. This city is full of bits and pieces of history, even more fascinating for a North American, where a good part of man-made sights are a few hundred years old at the most. Should I give you a chronological tour of Paris, go back to the pre-Roman conquest settlement on the river islands? Or should I start with some basic Paris geography? I’ll do neither, but instead stick to my A as in Eiffel Tower and begin with a few fun facts on the Iron Lady, la Dame de Fer, as she (in French, a tower is female) is lovingly called.
Did you know that…
if you laid the Eiffel Tower down, it would just fit onto the Mars Field behind it?
the Eiffel Tower does not sit astride over a street (as I mistakenly thought up until my first visit)?
you can climb up to the second floor in the staircase in one of the pillars, and that the steps are numbered?
