Paris - Musée du Louvre: Oedipe enfant rappelé à la vie par le berger Phorbas qui l'a détaché de l'arbre

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Paris - Musée du Louvre: Oedipe enfant rappelé à la vie par le berger Phorbas qui l'a détaché de l'arbre

Image by wallyg
Antoine-Denis Chaudet
Paris, 1763 - Paris, 1810

Terminé par Cartellier (1757 - 1831) et Dupaty (1771 - 1825) après 1810

Oedipe enfant rappelé à la vie par le berger Phorbas qui l'a détaché de l'arbre
Marbre
H. : 1,96 m. ; L. : 0,75 m. ; Pr. : 0,82 m.

Le modèle en plâtre fut présenté au Salon de 1801.
Le berger Phorbas recueillit le bébé Oedipe abandonné par ses parents à cause de la terrible prédiction qui le concernait.
Provient du musée du Luxembourg

Paris: Tour Eiffel at sunset

Image by wallyg
The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel) is one of the most recognized structures in the world. 6,719,200 people visited the tower in 2006. 240 million have visited since its construction. Including the 24m (79 antenna), the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high, is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building, making it the tallest structure in Paris. When inauguarated on March 31, 1889, it replaced the Washington Monument as the as the world's tallest structure--a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building was completed. Despite its delicate appearance, the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons. Constructed of 18,038 joined pieces of puddled irons and 2.5 million rivets provided from the forging mills and factories of Pompey Fould-Dupont, it never sways more than 6-7 cm in the wind. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) due to thermal expansion.

The Tower was built to the design of Gustave Eiffel, under engineers Maurice Koechlin & Emile Nouguier and architect Stepehen Sauvestre, over 2 years, 2 months and 5 days between 1887 and 1889, as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle of 1889 on the Champ de Mars beside the River Seine. Eiffel's design was initially met with restistance by the public, who accused him, alternatively, of putting artistic ambition ahead of engineering and ignoring artistic ambition. Today, it is recognized as one of the finer pieces of structural art in the world, but its shape was actually dictated by mathematical deference to wind resistance. Eiffel had a permit for it to stand for 20 years, when ownership would revert back to the City of Paris, who planned to tear it down. Proving invaluable for communication purposes, however, it was allowed to stand beyond the permit's expiration.

Visitors may climb 328 stairs or take an elevator 57.63 meters to the first floor, and then another 340 steps or elevator 115.73 meters to the second floor. The third floor upper observation platform, at a height of 276.13 meters, is approachable by elevator. The passenger lifts from ground level to the first level are operated by cables and pulleys driven by massive water-powered pistons. As they ascend the inclined arc of the legs, the elevator cabins tilt slightly, but with a slight jolt, every few seconds in order to keep the floor nearly level. The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor; and the more expensive Alain Ducasse-run Jules Verne, on the second floor.

Over the years, the tower has been used for myriad communication, symbolic and scientific purposes. In 1910, Father Theodor Wulf took observations of radiant energy at the top and bottom of the tower, discovering at the top more than was expected, and thereby detecting what are today known as cosmic rays. In 1914, the military used the tower to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during the First Battle of the Marne. From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time. In 2000, flashing lights and four high-power searchlights were installed on the tower. Since then the light show has become a nightly event.