History Torre Eiffel
It's hard to imagine Paris without it.
Yet it was supposed to be temporary.
How did this gargantuan tower become the universal symbol of Paris and France?
To find out, we have to get inside the head of its namesake.
The magician of iron, Gustave Eiffel.
The late 1800s.
His 50-year-old engineer has already made a name for himself in the world of architecture.
Thanks to his hundreds of major iron and steel structures, such as the Maria Pia Bridge over
the Douro River in Porto, the Garabit Viaduct in the Cantal, and the Statue of Liberty's
internal structure.
But Eiffel wants to make his mark on history.
And a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity soon presents itself.
It all started in 1884.
The French government, which was headed at the time by Jules Ferry, whose name has remained
engraved in our memories, which isn't the case of many politicians of that time, decided
World's Fair, the Exposition Universelle, would be held in 1889, five years later, so
it was a tight deadline.
This was to be the fourth in Paris, the city which held the most, and was to celebrate
the centenary of the French Revolution of 1789.
Also, the fair had to have a centerpiece, or clou, as they were known.
The clou dreamt up by Gustave Eiffel is a 300-meter tower, the world's tallest.
This is a popular idea at the time, in the United States and Great Britain, but no one
has yet succeeded.
To put France on the map, Eiffel wants to be the first.
As he had hoped, in 1886, the fair's organizers launch a competition.
Eiffel beats out some 100 contestants with his totally groundbreaking design.
Tall man-made structures, such as the Washington Monument, then the world's highest, and London's
Big Ben, are made of stone.
Eiffel and his team decide to use their bridge and viaduct building expertise to design a
tower made entirely of metal.
Four piers, or legs, will be connected by arches, and support two platforms.
And there will be a bell tower at the top.
As the goal was 300 meters, a stone tower was out of the question.
It would have collapsed.
So the only solution was metal.
And this was Eiffel's area of expertise.
But he understood that he needed to use wrought iron, rather than steel or cast iron.
Cast iron cannot be stretched without breaking.
Steel is too rigid.
Wrought iron is lighter, more flexible, because it had to withstand wind.
That was the main problem.
Obviously, unlike a stone tower, a metal latticework structure can resist wind forces.
The fact is, the tower moves, which is why it doesn't collapse.
And you have to be a highly qualified engineer, as Eiffel was, to understand that.
January 1887.
Work begins.
Gustave Eiffel has chosen the material and the color.
This tower will be red.
It must be completed within a short two-year time frame.
To meet this tight deadline, he adopts a new and ultra-fast assembly technique.
Riveting.
Rivets are these cylindrical pieces of metal used to join the components, rather like a
giant Meccano set.
That's what keeps the Eiffel Tower standing.
Two and a half million rivets were used in all.
Half of these were fitted at the pre-assembly stage in Le Valois.
This means about 1.3 million rivets were fitted on-site in those two years.
Just imagine, it took a team of four to fit each rivet.
One man to anneal the rivet.
This was smithy work.
There was a portable forge here during the building.
Another to hold the rivet in place.
A third to work the piece.
Then a fourth to pound the rivet into place with a sledgehammer.
And all that, one million times.
For this, Gustave Eiffel hired journeymen and laborers, specialized in metal construction.
Most of whom had actually already worked for him, because for 25 years he had been employing
the best men in the field.
Construction progresses rapidly.
Meanwhile, problems are mounting for Gustave Eiffel.
Local residents, who fear the tower will topple over, take him to court.
And the most influential intellectuals and artists of the day, such as Guy de Maupassant
and Charles Garnier, publish a scathing letter in which they protest against the building
of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower.
They actually objected to the fact that this gigantic factory chimney, that was one of
the insults hurled at the poor tower, would overshadow the Ecole Militaire.
This was an absolute outrage for most aesthetes of the time.
The Ecole Militaire was regarded as the architectural masterpiece of the 18th century, France's
most glorious century.
People adored the Louis XV style at the time, so it was the abomination of desolation to
build a gigantic factory chimney opposite this Louis XV masterpiece.
Gustave Eiffel ignores these attacks.
He throws all his energy into his project.
The moment he has been dreading is upon him.
The four legs, 70 meters apart at their base, are complete.
He prays they are all exactly the same height to within a centimeter, as they now have to
be joined.
It was make or break time.
The first level had been reached.
The four legs were converging.
All this had been studied by dozens of engineers who were working for Eiffel.
In fact, they were mathematicians.
It was mathematics.
But would it work in practice?
In December 1887, victory.
The first tier is complete, a crucial milestone.
If there had been a serious miscalculation, his project would have fallen behind schedule,
and that would have looked bad, even to the workers.
But the whole team, from the boss right down to the laborers, knew it was fine.
To celebrate this incredible feat, Gustave Eiffel threw a big party on the first floor
for his entire team.
He also had the names of the leading scientists, engineers and mathematicians of his day inscribed
on the tower.
Some had supported him since the start.
These names can still be seen today in gold lettering on all four sides of the first tier.
One could argue that the Eiffel Tower was a response to the Arc de Triomphe, because
for the republicans at the time, who were in government, who wanted to celebrate the
French Revolution, the Arc de Triomphe represented despotism, Napoleon I.
The Triumphal Arch commemorates military victories.
It's inscribed with names of soldiers.
The Eiffel Tower is a triumphal arch too, but it represents the triumph of the modern
world.
And on the building you have the names of Bichat, Broca, for the doctors, Arago, Michel
Schall, the mathematician.
In other words, Gustave Eiffel's world.
Construction work continues.
In a matter of weeks, the second level is built.
But a new problem arises.
At this height, the scaffolding can no longer rest on the ground.
So Eiffel decides to attach it to the edges of the tower, 130 meters in the air.
The workers work without any protection on planks that are barely a meter wide.
Miraculously, no one dies.
The Parisians are astounded by these heroes, particularly the daredevil painters who paint
the tower red as it rises skywards.
But the Eiffel Tower was not red for long.
It became yellow ochre in 1892, then yellow-brown in the first part of the 20th century.
Today, it is Eiffel Tower brown.
Traces of all these different colors have been found on the first floor.
We have red-brown, yellow-brown and brown.
These are the different choices that were made before us over the past 130 years.
This is a piece of history.
The Eiffel Tower is repainted every seven years.
A fresh coat is applied over previous coats to protect against corrosion.
The structure has been Eiffel Tower brown since the late 1960s, but its appearance is
about to change.
In a few weeks, it will undergo a major facelift.
A lighter shade of brown has been chosen, or rather three shades.
For the optical illusion to be perfect, the paint is darker at the base and lightens as
it goes up.
It's to deal with a phenomenon known as metamerism.
Metamerism is the eye's retinal perception, and this retinal perception changes in response
to the tower's design.
Because we have this lace-like pattern with the decorative arches, which becomes denser
at the top with the tower spire.
The denser the pattern, the paler the shade.
The lighter it is, the darker the shade.
So we have three different shades in the same colour spectrum to force the retinal perception
to think, only to think, that the colour is uniform.
What I find absolutely remarkable about Monsieur Eiffel is, not only was he aware of this,
but initially there weren't three different shades, there were five.
It's mind-blowing.
He thought of absolutely everything.
And it is precisely because Gustave Eiffel planned every last detail that he was able
to meet the deadline.
Two years, two months and five days after work began, the tallest structure ever built
was completed on time in March 1889.
At the opening, he invited his workers and their families to climb to the top.
Everyone discovered the breathtaking views.
The opening in March set the tone for the reaction of the majority of the fair's two
million visitors who later ascended the Eiffel Tower.
They were absolutely amazed.
Climbing down on the city made them feel almost superhuman.
Visitors could admire the Trocadéro Palace.
This Moorish and Neo-Byzantine building, which no longer exists, housed one of the capital's
largest concert halls at the time.
On the other side, on the Champs de Mars, were the pavilions that had just been built
for the international exposition.
At the time, nothing rivaled the tower in height.
Paris spread out before you, the most beautiful city in the world for all Parisians, for the
French and many foreigners too.
People realized it enhanced the city's image.
In other words, it was a total success, and so Eiffel had achieved his goal.
Two months later, in May 1889, the Paris Exposition opened its doors to the public.
Two hundred thousand visitors a day enjoyed the attractions, such as this railway across
the Champs de Mars, or the world's first Wild West show by the legendary Buffalo Bill.
To celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution, there was even a life-size replica
of the Bastille prison.
At the foot of the tower, the 35 invited countries spent astronomical sums to shine in the eyes
of the world.
Latin American countries in particular, such as Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, built lavish
national pavilions.
But it was impossible to compete with France, which, as well as the Eiffel Tower, had built
this huge iron and glass edifice.
The Palace of Machines.
Hundreds of ultra-modern machines manufactured paper or state-of-the-art clocks.
Everything here was an ode to progress.
At night, visitors discovered this fountain, which was powered by electricity, a brand
new form of energy at the time.
But the marvel that caught everyone's attention was the tower.
Especially as a few weeks after the inauguration, it was fitted with a newfangled invention
that had everyone talking.
The world's highest elevators.
Today, the elevators, which carry up to 12,000 visitors every day, are still one of the tower's
main attractions.
Four of the five original elevators have been modernized.
But in the East Leg, the last has been in service for 130 years.
It goes up 125 meters to the second floor, thanks to a unique system hidden under the
tower.
In this engine room, nothing has changed since the 19th century.
Every morning, technician Jan Lelois has to grease the centerpiece.
This cab invented by Gustave Eiffel to move the elevator up and down.
There it goes.
When the cab moves forward, what happens?
The cables run through the pulleys, they're pulled and the elevator is lifted.
This piston, when fully extended, is 16 meters long.
And it lets you lift the elevator to 125 meters.
That's right.
At the time, they made what's known as a reaving system.
The cables pass through the pulleys eight times.
This means the piston travel is increased eightfold.
When the piston extends one meter, the elevator moves eight meters along the track.
Eight times 16.
So you reach 125 meters, the second floor.
It's Gustave Eiffel's original design.
This masterpiece of technology holds another secret, a product of Eiffel's genius.
No need for coal or electricity here.
Ever since it was put into service, this cab has been powered by water.
We have two accumulators, one here, one just behind it.
They weigh 190 tons each.
In fact, the accumulator comes to rest on water.
It pressurizes the water.
When the accumulator descends, water is pushed along the pipes.
Then it travels along this gray tube here, which is connected to this big piston, which
pushes, pushes, pushes and moves the cab forward.
When the cab moves, the cables are pulled and the elevator moves upwards.
It was designed by Gustave Eiffel and it's 130 years old.
It's what drives the elevator.
Just water.
Even us, who've been here a while and are caught up in our work, sometimes we stop and
think, wow, that's the magic of this tower.
One of the greatest inventions of the 19th century, this hydraulic lift was a key to
the tower's popularity with the French.
And yet the tower was meant to be temporary.
Twenty years after she was built, the Iron Lady was supposed to be dismantled like other
of the fair's buildings.
But Gustave Eiffel succeeded in saving the tower by proving its usefulness.
It became the capital's biggest antenna.
Because he had a wireless telegraph transmitter installed, which led to the creation in 1921
of Radio Eiffel Tower, France's very first radio station.
Beneath the Champ de Mars, in a secret location, the remains of these installations have been
carefully preserved.
We're underground, in the middle of the Champ de Mars, in a highly strategic place.
As this sign says, it was the military radio telegraphy station.
Back in 1898, Eugène Ducreté carried out his first wireless telegraphy trials between
the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon.
This immediately generated a lot of interest.
The military realized its importance and that's what saved the Eiffel Tower.
Behind this door lies a genuine bunker.
It was used until the end of the 20th century.
This is the entrance to the tunnel that connects the Eiffel Tower and this transmission center.
Huge cables were run from the top of the Eiffel Tower to this place.
The tunnel was built between the tower's south leg and this station, where all the
transmitters were.
So when you stroll down the Champ de Mars, you're actually walking on a piece of history,
which ultimately resulted in the invention of television and also saved the Eiffel Tower.
Few people realize when they're on the Champ de Mars that these historic tunnels lie beneath
their feet.
As a very powerful antenna, the Eiffel Tower played a role in France's victory in the
First World War.
In September 1914, the French army was in trouble.
The Germans were advancing on Paris.
But the Eiffel Tower's wireless operators intercepted an enemy message.
They learned that one German unit was in difficulty and could no longer advance.
This crucial information enabled the French to organize a counterattack.
Some 600 taxis, known as the Taxis of the Marne, were requisitioned in Paris to transport
troops to the front.
Thanks to this intervention, the Germans were stopped 50 kilometers from Paris.
In 1917, the tower's wireless operators intercepted another important German message.
This led to the capture of Mata Hari, a dancer in the toast of Belle Epoque Paris, who was
spying on the French for the Germans.
She was later tried and executed.
Wireless telegraphy wasn't Gustave Eiffel's only masterstroke.
His tower's enormous popularity also saved it.
He had the brilliant idea of opening four restaurants on it.
Due to a lack of space, the kitchens were attached to the underside of the platform.
On the Trocadéro side, visitors could eat Alsatian cuisine.
And on the École Militaire side, there was a chic restaurant.
In the 20th century, these restaurants were replaced by this first-floor brasserie, the
58 Tour Eiffel.
And on the second floor, a gastronomic restaurant, the Jules Verne, was opened in the 80s.
It's the month of July.
The restaurant has been closed for several months for extensive renovation work, but
is due to reopen in a few days.
Are you going to repair those cracks?
Which cracks?
Those cracks over there.
Are you going to fix them?
Interior designer Aline Asma Daman has been chosen for this major facelift.
Her previous projects include the renovation of Paris' Hôtel de Criant.
This isn't finished, is it?
Today, she's come to see whether these mirrors are how she wanted.
These mirrors were produced by an EPV, or Living Heritage Company, in the traditional
way, that is, with sheets of silver leaf which are applied one by one next to each other.
They have this 1900 silver halide print feel.
The idea was to create an interior that echoed the Paris sky, to reflect this in the mirrors.
It's magical.
People come to the Eiffel Tower too for this incredible view of Paris.
Aline Asma wanted every detail to recall the Eiffel Tower's mechanisms, which is the case,
for instance, of these wall lights.
With this grooved metal, these big rings, which are like the big metal circles found
in the elevators, the wheels, the cabling.
And these overhead lighting fixtures that mimic the elevator's wheels.
These elevator's wheels travel a combined distance of 103,000 kilometers a year, three
times the circumference of the Earth.
You can see them from everywhere.
It's this idea of perpetual motion, of the city, of this monument that never stops, and
is so full of life.
The Eiffel Tower has even inspired her choice of textiles.
These curtains echo the tower's main structural elements, this gigantic Meccano set.
I was after a discreet, restrained look, not a flashy, overly luxurious feel.
Hence, the white on white lines.
And these sheer curtains also reveal the surrounding landscape, because people come to admire the
view too.
For the restaurant's furniture, the designer drew inspiration from this photo.
Gustave Eiffel had this small apartment built on the tower's third floor.
The interior was extremely traditional.
There were velvet armchairs, pretty low seats, in fact, with the same trim as here.
And so we wanted velvet everywhere too.
The result is a very simple yet sophisticated look.
It's a nod to the photo of Gustave Eiffel's interior.
For Aline and her team, this project, 125 meters up in the air, is like no other.
There are all sorts of constraints, such as weight, time, vertical access.
There's only one service elevator to transport all the building materials, all the furniture
and so on.
There are weight constraints too.
Everything has to be weighed when it's removed, and the same weight must be used in the restaurant's
interior.
A few weeks later, the interior is ready.
The restaurant is about to welcome its first customers.
They can choose between three different rooms and views.
The Champs de Mars, Trocadero, or the Banks of the Seine.
As for the kitchen, it's been extended from 80 square meters to 116, and completely redesigned
by the Jules Verne's new Michelin-starred chef, Frédéric Anton.
He has made maximum use of the space.
These workstations, we have drawers, doors, because sometimes we put things down horizontally,
vertically.
So it means at each workstation, we can move around like this.
Each workstation, meat, fish, has its fridges.
Flames, the enemy of iron, are forbidden here.
One thing that we had installed, and which is very important, is this teppanyaki.
It does away with the need for frying pans and saucepans.
So whether we're cooking meat or fish, we simply put it on this plate.
It means we don't need much equipment.
Less equipment means less weight.
But the chef still has a kitchen worthy of any grand restaurant.
And we have all the elements we need.
Our stoves, cold units, hot units, ovens.
It isn't complicated at all.
It's a working kitchen.
The only problem is bringing out the produce.
There's an elevator.
We have to keep to a schedule.
But we operate like any other restaurant kitchen.
There's a proper kitchen on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Otherwise we wouldn't be able to prepare meals.
As for the menu, Frédéric Anton wanted to pay tribute to the tower, with bold creations.
Right, they're great.
What a beautiful colour.
Did you stew the leeks properly?
Like this starter.
We take the leek custard and put some caviar on top.
We use quite a lot.
It has to be half a centimetre thick.
Perfect.
Leeks, caviar.
Now we add five or six croutons.
With five or six it'll be harmonious.
Very delicate.
And for the finishing touch, a cauliflower Dubarry cream.
We fill the bowl, OK?
All around.
There we go.
Our cauliflower cream with leek custard and caviar.
Shall we try it?
Excellent.
Very delicate.
I like it a lot.
It's a classic French dish too.
Dubarry cream.
We've deconstructed it a bit.
It's really delicious.
The Eiffel Tower is a thing that's hard, strong, anchored to the ground.
But it has lace, so it's also very delicate, very fine.
It's rather like our cuisine.
Good, solid ingredients cooked with refinement.
The dessert menu plays tribute to the Tower too.
With this chocolate and coffee gâteau created by pastry chef Germain Decretan.
We have a completely flour-free, gluten-free chocolate biscuit base,
a Niangbo chocolate ganache, coffee cream, and a band of chocolate.
And on the side, there's a sorbet cold-infused with Brazilian coffee.
The circular shape mimics the Eiffel Tower's elevator wheels, which never stop turning.
I wanted to give it a feel of movement, with this nod to the wheels.
This dessert was made specially for the Eiffel Tower.
In a few moments, the first customers will sit down to an exceptional dinner of exquisite dishes
with this stunning view of Paris as a backdrop.
Since the Eiffel Tower was built,
a neighborhood has become one of the capital's most desirable,
thanks to its views of the monument.
This neighborhood is Passy Hill.
Hélène moved here 35 years ago with her husband and children.
From her eighth-floor balcony,
this young retiree has a remarkable view of her illustrious neighbor.
When I first saw it, I was stunned.
It took my breath away.
It was unbelievable, so, so beautiful, simply astounding.
We can see the whole of the Eiffel Tower.
We can even see the elevators inside going up and down.
There's the Red Eiffel Tower, the Red Eiffel Tower,
and the Red Eiffel Tower, the Red Eiffel Tower,
There's the Red Elevator between the second and third floors.
We get to see the tower living and breathing.
Hélène's favorite pastime is photographing the Eiffel Tower at different times of day.
It's even the first thing she does every morning.
The sun rises behind it, so I watch the sunrise with the Eiffel Tower.
It's absolutely magical, quite unique, and never, ever the same.
In her 35 years living next door to the tower,
Hélène has built up an impressive photo collection.
This is typical of a sunrise at six in the morning.
When the light appears, it's always very impressive.
And I wait for the next bit because the sky changes significantly
in the space of just 30 minutes.
It's so inspiring.
Thanks to her apartment's ideal location,
Hélène often rents it to foreign tourists.
Hey, I'm Trevor.
Nice to meet you.
Pleased.
Today, her guests are an American couple on their honeymoon.
They're going to visit a hotel in the city of New York.
They're going to visit a hotel in the city of New York.
They're going to visit a hotel in the city of New York.
They're going to visit a hotel in the city of New York.
Yes, your room is here if you want just to put your luggage here.
Ansley and Trevor got married yesterday.
They hopped on a plane with one goal in mind.
This view is the best.
Yes.
To see the Eiffel Tower for the first time in their lives.
Yes.
Oh, wow.
It's way closer.
Yes, in your plate.
Yes.
Breakfast here.
It's way better than the pictures.
Wow.
It's bigger than it looks in pictures.
And the fact that they built it so long ago,
and it's just magnificent.
You know, the shape means A.
It means A for amour, for love.
You know, A for amour.
Yes, normally.
Trevor and Ansley live in Louisiana.
He's a financial analyst.
She's a doctor.
The newlyweds never imagined spending their honeymoon
anywhere other than Paris, or this exact spot.
We wanted a good memorial honeymoon.
So this is definitely it.
The Eiffel Tower being right here.
I feel happy and excited.
It's kind of really surreal that it's right here,
that we're in France and everything.
Her mom told me that when she was a kid,
her room would have Eiffel Tower,
little trinkets and pictures and stuff
of the Eiffel Tower.
It makes me feel good to bring her over here
and she can experience it.
But for Hélène and her guests,
the showstopper is a 10pm sharp.
Like every evening, the tower lights up.
Then sparkles for five minutes.
And Gustave Eiffel thought of this, too.
He's a photographer.
He's a photographer.
He's a photographer.
He's a photographer.
For the 1900 Paris Exposition,
when the tower was 11 years old,
Eiffel outlined it with 5,000 incandescent lamps.
In 1923, André Citroën turned the tower
into a giant billboard.
The tower was a symbol of Paris.
It was a symbol of Paris.
It was a symbol of Paris.
It was a symbol of Paris.
His company's name was emblazoned on it
in Art Deco lettering.
This was later replaced by a clock,
then a thermometer.
More recently, the tower has been lit up
for different causes.
In 2004, to celebrate cultural ties
between France and China,
it turned red,
a symbol of good luck and prosperity
in the Far East.
Four years later, it was decked out in blue
to represent the European flag.
Then in pink in 2014
to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
But the tower is above all
a symbol of celebration.
In the year 2000, it marked the dawn
of the new millennium.
And a few months ago,
it celebrated its 130th anniversary
with an elaborate laser show.
Thanks to these different illuminations,
the Eiffel Tower has become
a symbol of Paris.
And once a year in July,
it is cloaked in the colors of France.
A few hours earlier,
in Villacoublais, 20 km from Paris,
the patrol of France's nine pilots
are totally focused.
They are about to take part
in a practice fly-past
ahead of tomorrow's Bastille Day parade,
supervised by squadron leader Racine.
It's a difficult mission.
People might think it's easy to fly jets
over the Champs-Elysées,
but we're expected to be bang on time,
a few meters from the avenue,
in the correct formation,
with the right smoke.
And that requires planning and training,
which is why we're here today.
We're going to fly past.
This will sound very silly,
but obviously we don't want to fly into it,
as we have special permission
to fly past the tower.
We really want to get up close,
so we're all feeling very emotional.
During this rehearsal,
the pilots must make sure
they are perfectly synchronized
and that their smoke system is working.
They must perform acrobatics
only a few meters apart.
The pilots must be able
to fly in a straight line
and not fly in a zigzag.
Only a few meters apart.
Five minutes later,
the pilots reach Paris
and can already see the Eiffel Tower in the distance.
For the navigator who arrives in Paris,
it's a bit like a beacon.
It's a bit emotional,
to see the Eiffel Tower,
which is still so beautiful.
Next, the squadron flies down the Champs-Élysées.
Over the Louvre.
Then after the Ile de la Cité,
at full speed.
The Alpha jets turn around
to skim past the Eiffel Tower.
The pilots are still in the air.
The Eiffel Tower is still in the air.
It's a real monument to the beauty of our country.
On the evening of July 13,
preparations are underway for another high-risk show.
It is 11 p.m.
That goes up to the top.
I can see the number 20 on it.
Is that trolley for the top?
Off you go.
Stéphane Roussin, the tower's technical director,
is taking delivery of a ton of explosives
for tomorrow's firework display.
This year,
the fireworks will not be set off
from the banks of the Seine.
But instead,
they'll be launched from the Eiffel Tower.
The hard work starts here.
30 or so rope access technicians
haul up the racks of fireworks very carefully.
OK, you can let go now.
Do you have them?
Yes.
Then they attach them to the 250 firing stands
positioned around the spire,
all the way to the top.
The countdown started
when all the fireworks were on the tower.
We've gone from the stage
where the public could still walk around the tower
to a total evacuation.
We've secured the Eiffel Tower
and the area around it
because, well, they're explosives.
Even if they produce different colours of light,
they're still explosives.
That's why we've evacuated the area.
These technicians have until the early hours
to set up the 15,000 rockets.
This is what they call dressing the tower.
It's a real dress.
The Grande Dame only accepts elegant things
that enhance her image.
We have to do something new every single year
because the tower doesn't change.
Its design never changes.
The display has to be constantly reinvented
so there are different effects from one year to the next.
It has to be as spectacular as the tower
to dazzle the world. A magnificent display.
The following day, it's 10pm.
One million people have descended
to watch the fireworks on the Champ de Mars.
Stéphane Roussin takes up his position
in the area reserved for the pyrotechnists
at the foot of the tower.
This is the best spot by far
because you're alone
and you get to see the show live.
Great weather, clear sky,
magnificent tower.
What more could I ask for?
A spectacular display.
Come on!
Here goes!
The 15,000 fireworks
light up the sky for over 30 minutes.
It's wonderful.
All the small details work really well.
Everything's working perfectly
so it's really great for everyone
who worked so hard beforehand.
Seeing that it all works is fantastic, it's fabulous.
Gustave Eiffel hoped his tower
would be a beacon illuminating the future.
But it's not.
130 years on,
more than ever,
it is lighting up the eyes of the world.
The world is watching.
It's time to say goodbye.
Goodbye, world.
Goodbye, world.
Goodbye, world.
Goodbye, world.
