Eiffel Tower, 1888, Colorized

ABOUT THIS PHOTOGRAPH

For the first time Parisians began to appreciate the size of Gustave Eiffel's new tower in the summer of 1888. A year and a half after construction begun, upwards progress was now coming at impressive speed.Eiffel's 'tower' was intended to be the centrepiece for the planned Paris Exhibition of 1889. With less than a year to go, in July 1888, it had reached a height of around 360 feet as the second stage was completed.

The most notable feature of the tower was its sheer size. 'My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man', Eiffel had proclaimed. Another characteristic, though, was becoming more evident by the summer of 1888. This was its colour. It had been decided, after much experimentation, to paint the tower a dusky red. The advantage of this was that, at sunset, the tower would assume a golden sheen.

That July the photographer Roger Viollet captured the workers' progress. The red stood out sharply, not just in the glow of sunset. but also in the haze of a overcast Parisian day. Viollet photographed an intriguing scene at a poised moment. Although it was still unfinished, the tower played its first part of public life that July. On Bastille Day it was used as the platform for a lavish fireworks display.

'Cascades of blue, red, green and golden stars issued from the top of the Tower', wrote one observer, 'followed by torrents of flames, which in the dark night made the Tower look like an incandescent volcano'. These fireworks came at a time when many were still making up their minds about the tower. Was it inspiring or was it ludicrous? Just one thing was certain.

No one on Earth had ever seen anything like it before. – Peter Moore

Taken: July 1888
Location: Paris, France
Photographer: Henri Roger-Viollet
Remaster & Colorization: Jordan J. Lloyd  
Original Format: Plate