Pont d'Iena
Paris France
2011

Louis Daumas' 19th century sculpture, Roman Warrior is one of four sculptures standing on a corner of Pont d'Iéna (Iena Bridge), which crosses 155 meters over the River Seine, connecting la Tour Eiffel and Trocadéro. Built under Napoléon I as a water crossing along the axis from École Militaire, it was originally to be called Pont du Champ de Mars or Pont de l'École Militaire. However, after winning the bataille d'Iéna (Battle of Jena) in October, 1806, he decided to name it in honor of his victory.

Designed by Corneille Lamandé, it was originally to have consisted of cast iron arches but an imperial decree of 1808 decided on stonework. Work was completed in 1814. The construction costs were borne entirely by the state. The structure conisists of 5 masonry arcs of circle arches of 28 meters each and four intermediate piers. The tympana are decorated with imperial eagles designed by François-Frédéric Lemot and sculpted by Jean-François Mouret.

After the empire fell in 1815, the Prussians, led by Blücher, for whom the name Iéna brought back bad memories, wanted to blow it up. Legend has it that they renounced the idea once Louis XVIII said that they would have to blow him up with it. Instead the bridge was renamed Pont des Invalides and the imperial eagels were removed and replaced with the royal "L."

After the revolution of 1830, the bridge returned to its original name and in 1852, Antoine-Louis Barye restored the eagles In 1853, four sculptures were installed; on the right bank, a Gallic warrior by Antoine Préault and a Roman warrior by Louis Daumas and on the left bank, an Arab warrior by Jean-Jacques Feuchère and a Greek warrior by François Devault.

In the second half of the 19th century, rising traffic caused by the expansion of the Trocadéro, Auteuil and Passy districts, strained the bridge, but it wasn't until 1937 that it was finally widened from 14 to 35 meters.

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 inaugurated 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.