HISTORY. 99 years ago, the death of the engineer Gustave Eiffel, a native of Dijon

It is perhaps the most famous Dijonnais throughout the world and generations: Gustave Eiffel, the origin of the Parisian Eiffel Tower and New York’s Statue of Liberty, died on December 27, 1923, 99 years ago.

He is the builder of two of the most recognized monuments in the world: the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty. Almost a century after his death, Gustave Eiffel is today a figure, one of the most famous engineers in the world. And his story begins … in Dijon, where he was born in 1832, in a house situated along Quai Nicolas Rolin.

Gustave Eiffel attended his studies in Dijon, from 1843 to 1850, before being admitted to the Ecole Centrale de Paris. He then devoted himself to the construction of railways, together with the engineer Charles Nepveu. At the age of 25, Gustave Eiffel was entrusted with a first major project: the construction of the Bordeaux bridge, over 500 meters long. During his development he experimented with some techniques that will make him famous, in particular the construction of bridge piles using compressed air, as he recalls the Association of Descendants of Gustave Eiffel.

The years 1870 and 1880 will be the most prolific in the career of the Dijonians. Gustave Eiffel is solicited for various international projects and constructions which remain, even today, remarkable monuments. These include the Pest railway station, in the capital of Hungary, and the Maria Pia bridge in Porto, which overlooks the Douro River.

Other noteworthy constructions in France: the circular observatory in Nice, the Garabit viaduct in Cantal (Eiffel patents his system of poles without bracing, which will be used to assemble the Eiffel Tower), or the road bridge in Cubzac in Gironde, which overlooks the Dordogne river for more than a kilometre.

Gustave Eiffel’s name is also associated with the mythical Statue of Liberty in New York. But did you know that the Dijonians hardly participated in its construction?

“Liberty leading the people” was commissioned to the French sculptor Auguste Bartholdi in 1871. The artist (also author of the Lion of Belfort) chose the technique of embossed copper plates for the internal structure of the statue. He then joined forces with the architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc (himself behind the famous spire of the cathedral Notre-Dame de Paris and the basilica of Vézelay in Yonne), who to imagine a way to stabilize the Statue of Freedom in the face of strong winds blowing across New York Bay.

But the project was interrupted by the death of Viollet-le-Duc in 1879, at the age of 65. This is where Gustave Eiffel comes in: Auguste Bartholdi calls him to take the torch and continue the construction. Dijonnais is responsible for the internal structure of the statue, inaugurated in 1881.

Emblematic heart of Paris, symbol of France in the eyes of the world, declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO since 1991, the Eiffel Tower will remain the main achievement of the Dijon engineer. The construction of the Iron Lady, which will last 26 months, is completed for the Universal Exhibition of 1889. A technical and architectural feat, revolutionary for the time. In less than six months, two million visitors flock to climb to the top.

The raising of the tower requires the presence of 250 workers per day. Gustave Eiffel financed 80% of the construction himself, and the city of Paris granted him a 20-year concession after which the monument would become the property of the capital.

After the immense success of the Eiffel Tower, the Burgundian engineer then joined the construction of the locks of the Panama Canal, led by Ferdinand de Lesseps. But three years later, everything collapsed: the New Panama Canal Company found itself at the center of a vast political and financial scandal. The site turned out to be much more expensive than expected, undermined by the vagaries of the weather (earthquake, too high river flow) and by the yellow fever epidemic, which decimated several thousand workers on site. To save the coffers, a public subscription is launched, which allows for the purchase of shares in the Company. The scandal erupted after the revelations of corruption by several French politicians and notables, accused of having bribed the media and personalities to favor the success of the project.

Unable to cover its costs, the Company went bankrupt in 1889. 85,000 registered shareholders found themselves bankrupt, making it impossible for them to recover their initial outlay. Three years later, the press reveals the embezzlement that led to this disaster. Company members, including Gustave Eiffel, were tried for these embezzlements and Eiffel was sentenced to five years in prison. Retried on appeal, then in cassation, he ended up acquitted in 1893, the justice concluded that he had not actively participated in the deception.

However, this is too much for the engineer, who has seen his name tarnished by the scandal. Gustave Eiffel decides to retire from business. He devoted himself, until the end of his life, to science: meteorology, aerodynamics, in particular he installed a meteorological laboratory, a TSF transmitter or even a radioactive measuring device at the top of the Eiffel Tower. He installed a wind tunnel at the foot of the tower in 1909, and worked there on aerodynamics with a so-called “free fall” device. He also studies propeller and projectile engines during the First World War.

Gustave Eiffel died in 1923, aged 91. Since then he has rested in the family vault of Levallois-Perret, in the Paris region. A century later, his name remains associated with some of the world’s greatest architectural feats. In Dijon, his birthplace, today an avenue, a bridge (near the canal port) and a scientific and technical high school bear his name.

► To find out more about Gustave Eiffel’s youth in the Dijon region, the Clos de Vougeot is currently offering an exhibition “Eiffel, a childhood in Burgundy”accessible until October 2023.