A flippant expose of the country and people hosting this year’s Paris Olympics. Senior correspondent Mike Osborne takes a hard-hat tour of French architecture.
The Olympic triathlon, road cycling and marathons showcase some of France’s great architecture like the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre Museum, and the Palace of Versailles. But arguably its most iconic structure stands in a different country, 6,000km kilometres away.
The Statue of Liberty – a gift from France to the US to mark the centenary of independence from Britain – rises from an island off the coast of Manhattan in New York.
More formally known as Liberty Enlightening the World, the statue was designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and its metal framework was built by Gustavo Eiffel – he of the famous Parisian tower.
French historian Edouard de Laboulaye proposed a monument to commemorate the 1876 centenary of US independence more than 150 years ago in 1865. Despite having 11 years to build the statue before the anniversary, the gift was actually a decade late.
The copper statue was completed in France in 1884, arrived in New York Harbour in the middle of 1885 on board the French frigate Isère, and was unveiled by US President Grover Cleveland in October 1886. From its base to the top of Liberty’s torch is almost 100 metres high.
Paris has several smaller models of the Statue of Liberty on the Isle of the Swans (Ile aux Cygnes) on the Seine where a quarter-sized Liberty replica stands at its western end. And there are also copies in the Luxembourg Gardens, Musee d’Orsay and Musee des Arts et Metiers.
Back to Monsieur Eiffel, whose company designed and built the Parisian landmark for the 1889 Universal Exposition in the French capital.
He was a successful engineer for many projects but is remembered mostly for what the French call the “Iron Lady” – a 330 metre tall steel tower, about the same height as an 80-storey building.
Originally built to last 20 years, it proved so popular with locals that it is constantly being renovated to accommodate the six million visitors each year who ride to the top to see the view of Paris or to dine in one of the restaurants.
While you are able to go to the top of the Iron Lady if you are in Paris for the Olympics, you can’t visit the Notre-Dame Cathedral – literally “Our Lady of Paris”.
Considered one of the finest examples of French Gothic architecture, the cathedral dedicated to the Virgin Mary has stood since the 12th century and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. But the Notre-Dame is still being repaired after a 2019 fire caused massive damage and it won’t reopen until the end of the year.
But there is much to admire just wandering the streets of Paris: The Sainte-Chapelle royal chapel near the Notre-Dame; the Paris Opera House; the Arc de Triomphe; the Sacré Coeur de Montmartre Basilica; The Louvre; and for a modern twist the Pompidou Centre.
Just outside Paris is the opulent and massive Palace of Versailles, a former home to French royals – specifically Louis XIV, the Sun King who remains the world’s longest reigning monarch (on the throne for about two years longer than Britain’s late Queen Elizabeth II).
With its majestic gardens and fountains, grand halls and rooms – notably the Hall of Mirrors – Versailles is the finest example of the French Chateaux style architecture, with many smaller chateaux scattered around the regions and outside the town of Tours, south of Paris.
Versailles is the venue for the equestrian events and modern pentathlon during the Olympics and Paralympics, just as the area around the Eiffel Tower is hosting the beach volleybal in a temporary stadium.
All Olympic medallists at the Paris Games will also get to take home a piece of the Eiffel Tower as a hexagonal chunk of iron cut from replaced girders will be embedded in the centre of every Olympic medal. C’est magnifique!
This is the latest in a series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: Art, Language, French Inventions, Olympic History, French Pacific.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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