Oh those French
I just finished watching a special about French architecture. I enjoyed watching all the innovative ideas that evolved in the French Empire throughout history, but the show’s host made a mistake.
The host ended the show by claiming that “some call it arrogance but I prefer to call it confidence.” Once you start acting like an ass the gloves come off, so here it goes.
His remark was concluding the last architecture
of note in France, the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is a wonderful combination of art and structural genius, the only problem is that Alexandre Gustave Eiffel’s surname was changed from Bönickhausen when his family was living in Marmagen, which happens to be located in the German mountain range Eifel. So, pride in the Eiffel Tower may not be as loyal to France as many would like to believe.
Second, the host suggested that the Eiffel Tower was the tallest man built structure since the Pyramids, seriously? No, in fact there were many building between the two that claimed the record for tallest building. A structure of note (and arguably the prized structure that beat out the pyramids) is the Straßburger Münster (Cathedral of Our Lady) which claimed the tallest structure from 1439 to 1846 (and is one of few still standing among this elite group of tallest structures in history). This Cathedral is important because the land it is located on belonged to Germany since the Roman Empire and was given to France after the first world war (despite the popular votes). So, I guess if the French can’t have the tallest building since the pyramids, they can just steel it.
As for French’s
second most notable icon, the Arc de Triomphe, was dedicated to an outlander (Napoleon was born in Corsica and received his big military break in Italy).
At the risk of sounding biased to German culture, I will also note that the Eiffel Tower was beat out by a group of American Towers (i.e. The 40 Wall Street, The Chrysler Building, and The Empire State Building) only 48 years latter. Not only is the Chrysler Building taller, it is made out of brick!, remains the tallest brick building in the world, and is a one of the best examples of Deco Architecture.
The host ended the show by claiming that “some call it arrogance but I prefer to call it confidence.” Once you start acting like an ass the gloves come off, so here it goes.
His remark was concluding the last architecture
of note in France, the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is a wonderful combination of art and structural genius, the only problem is that Alexandre Gustave Eiffel’s surname was changed from Bönickhausen when his family was living in Marmagen, which happens to be located in the German mountain range Eifel. So, pride in the Eiffel Tower may not be as loyal to France as many would like to believe.Second, the host suggested that the Eiffel Tower was the tallest man built structure since the Pyramids, seriously? No, in fact there were many building between the two that claimed the record for tallest building. A structure of note (and arguably the prized structure that beat out the pyramids) is the Straßburger Münster (Cathedral of Our Lady) which claimed the tallest structure from 1439 to 1846 (and is one of few still standing among this elite group of tallest structures in history). This Cathedral is important because the land it is located on belonged to Germany since the Roman Empire and was given to France after the first world war (despite the popular votes). So, I guess if the French can’t have the tallest building since the pyramids, they can just steel it.
As for French’s
second most notable icon, the Arc de Triomphe, was dedicated to an outlander (Napoleon was born in Corsica and received his big military break in Italy).At the risk of sounding biased to German culture, I will also note that the Eiffel Tower was beat out by a group of American Towers (i.e. The 40 Wall Street, The Chrysler Building, and The Empire State Building) only 48 years latter. Not only is the Chrysler Building taller, it is made out of brick!, remains the tallest brick building in the world, and is a one of the best examples of Deco Architecture.
posted by spitzer at 3:13 AM
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