Paris - Statue of Liberty - 11e

 Plate LXXXVI – Statue of Liberty…

Give and it will be given to you.

I’m certain that almost everyone knows that the famous Statue of Liberty (officially titled Liberty Enlightening the World) in New York’s harbour was a gift to America from the people of France. As much a political statement as a massive work of art, this is the image of Libertas the mythological Roman goddess now firmly established as the one we all reference. The statue’s history is already shrouded in fact, fiction and conjecture, despite being only some one hundred and ten years old- a period you’d expect to have been accurately recorded. Dedicated in October 1886 the monument commemorates the centennial of the signing of the American Declaration of Independence.

I had heard that the appreciative Americans (of Paris) had in return given to the donor nation, a smaller (approx 11 metres) version of their famous landmark, and determined to see it during my visit found my Parisian work colleagues, strangely, almost unaware of its existence. It’s unfathomable how much we take for granted the things we have in our own backyards. I guess the thought that they will always be there leads to such complacency.

Found on the man made island in the Seine known as the Allée des Cygnes (although I never saw a swan), this smaller Parisian version of the statue is next to the Pont de Grenelle,  a walk of some one and a half kilometres from the Eiffel Tower. It in its turn commemorates the centennial of the French Revolution and was inaugurated in November 1889. Originally sited facing the (Eiffel) Tower, the creator of the original, Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, successfully insisted it be turned to face its American counterpart. This makes it somewhat difficult for the on-foot visitor to the location to photograph from the front (especially with a camera as deficient as the one I used), but with an additional walk to next Seine bridge I managed to capture Libertas.

I’m glad I got there.

P.S. There is a smaller Statue of Liberty, said to be a cast of Bartholdi's design studies, in the Gardens of Luxembourg.

Paris - The Flame of Liberty - 7me

Plate LXVII – The Flame of Liberty…

Walking near the Pont de l’Alma you cannot help noticing the three and a half metres high gilded copper monument - a full sized replica of the flame held aloft by Lady Liberty in New York harbour. 

A gift to the people of Paris from the International Herald Tribune Newspaper it was given in 1989 to mark the earlier (1987) centenary of this English language Parisian publication. It was also a token of appreciation for the work undertaken by the French in 1984 during the restoration of the famous American statue – itself originally a gift to the American people from the citizens of France. 

Events in Paris on the night of August 31st 1997 were to change the meaning of the flame for millions of people around the world. It was here in a tunnel of the bridge that Diana, Princess of Wales was involved in the car accident that was to claim her life. Within hours the Flame of Liberty was to be claimed by Diana-ites as her unofficial memorial, and to this day the grey and black marble base is used for the posting of messages of memorial to the late Princess. I was fortunate to capture it after one of its many and regular cleanings, for it is sadly also often covered with the work of graffiti ‘artists’.

Paris - Gustave Eiffel - 7me

Plate LXVI - Gustave Eiffel…

Beneath the tower bearing his name is a gilded bust of the engineer Gustave Eiffel. As you stand in line to buy a ticket to ascend his masterpiece you can almost feel his gaze upon you. Not a modest man by all accounts, his slight smile seems to have an air of vindication – for the tower’s construction was not without its opponents. Forgotten too is the blame laid on Eiffel for the disaster of the Panama Canal that was to later somewhat tarnish his image.

A master of construction in metal, Eiffel was first noted for his design of bridges, initially the trussed girder railway bridges in Vichy, and his later span bridges. There are notably those in Bordeaux; the Pia Maria Bridge in Oporto in Portugal; and the 160 metre arched bridge - the Garabit Viaduct over the Truyère River near Saint-Flour in southern France, for many years the highest in the world. It was notably with his bridge design at Rouzat that Eiffel heightened his understanding of wind forces, and the design of curved towers to achieve lateral stiffness - so essential an element in the design of his tower.

It was Eiffel’s expertise that was called on to design the internal supporting structure and framework of the Statue of Liberty.

No wonder Eiffel has been dubbed ‘the magician of iron’.