Gustave Eiffel pays homage to his Tower.
"The Eiffel Tower will now be able to rest from the immense and unsuspected services it has just rendered to France."
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"The Eiffel Tower will now be able to rest from the immense and unsuspected services it has just rendered to France."
Sold
Gustave Eiffel (1832.1923)
Autographed and signed piece.
One page in-8°, in violet ink, on paper with his address at 1 rue Rabelais. [Paris]. May 13, 1919.
A moving document from the French engineer giving thanks to his Tower and the services it rendered to France during the First World War.
"Here at last is the war, more or less over. The Eiffel Tower can now rest from the immense services, the extent of which is unsuspected, that it has just rendered to France. G. Eiffel."
Intended to last only twenty years, the Iron Lady escaped destruction thanks to the scientific advancements it spurred. During the First World War, it was the Eiffel Tower that contributed to the salvation of France and the victory over the Germans. Indeed, thanks to the Tower's wireless telegraphy station, hundreds of enemy messages were intercepted and decoded. This crucial information notably enabled the organization of the counter-attack on the Marne and its famous taxis, as well as the arrest of Mata Hari.