the new Face of the French capital, it took two years, two months and five days to come to the end of its construction gargantuan. While the Eiffel tower is celebrating its 130 years, the descendants of Valentine, daughter of Gustave Eiffel, will offer for sale the unique reproduction of his canon. Estimated between 10,000 and 20,000 euros, this model had been offered to the chief of construction in 1889 by Chobert, arquebusier in Paris and builder of the canon called «The Eiffel».

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Estimated to be between 10,000 and 20,000 euros, this model has been offered to Gustave Eiffel in 1889 by Chobert, the builder of the original canon. Christie’s Images Ltd, 2019

bronze, brass, walnut and rosewood of Rio, the reproduction measure 65 cm long. Gustave Eiffel had installed in his office of the tower. «It is really moving to offer at auction a work as emblematic of the history of Paris and the Eiffel Tower, and from a descendant of Gustave Eiffel,» said Simon of Monicault, director of the department of decorative arts, Christie s.

Installed since the opening of the iron Lady in 1889 at the second floor of the monument, the original canon also announced each day the opening and closing of the universal Exhibition. Until 1914, a cannon shot announced midday, participating in the popular expression «midi pétante» inaugurated by a first canon in 1786, installed in the gardens of the Palais-Royal for the same functions.

a symbol

«When Gustave Eiffel built his tower, […] he thought she would welcome 500,000 visitors per year,» told Jean-Bernard Bros, president of Sete from 2001 to 2014. Since 1981, it is the City of Paris, via Sete, which invests and manages the operation of the monument. Today there are 7 million people who come to visit the tower each year, of which 80% are foreigners.

Zazie dans le metro by Louis Malle, to Dangerously with a James Bond portrayed by Roger Moore, not to mention the Da Vinci Code Ron Howard, the Eiffel tower continues to be passionate about the seventh art And the music as well: recently, the rap duo NLP has made her grand return to the front of the stage with a movie clip, DD , in which the Iron Lady takes the leading role. Already in 2016, the two brothers from Corbeil-Essonnes the included in the bottom of the clip of Da.

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True emblem of Paris, the Eiffel tower has also been plunged in darkness on the evening of march 30 to mark the «Earth Hour», «hour of the Earth», launched by the NGO environmental WWF. It was part of the 200 monuments in the world to participate in this manifestation of ecological awareness.