Editing Eiffel Tower (section)

===Artists' protest===
[[File:Caricature Gustave Eiffel.png|thumb|upright|Caricature of Gustave Eiffel comparing the Eiffel tower to the [[Egyptian pyramids|Pyramids]], published in ''[[Le Temps (Paris)|Le Temps]]'', 14 February 1887]]

The proposed tower had been a subject of controversy, drawing criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. Prior to the Eiffel Tower's construction, no structure had ever been constructed to a height of 300 m, or even 200 m for that matter,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://skyscraperpage.com/diagrams/?searchID=91724959|title=Diagrams - SkyscraperPage.com|website=skyscraperpage.com}}</ref> and many people believed it was impossible. These objections were an expression of a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering. It came to a head as work began at the Champ de Mars: a "Committee of Three Hundred" (one member for each metre of the tower's height) was formed, led by the prominent architect [[Charles Garnier (architect)|Charles Garnier]] and including some of the most important figures of the arts, such as [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]], [[Guy de Maupassant]], [[Charles Gounod]] and [[Jules Massenet]]. A petition called "Artists against the Eiffel Tower" was sent to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, [[Adolphe Alphand]], and it was published by ''[[Le Temps (Paris)|Le Temps]]'' on 14 February 1887:

{{blockquote|style=text-align:justify|We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection{{nbsp}}... of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower{{nbsp}}... To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years{{nbsp}}... we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.<ref>Loyrette, 1985 p. 174.</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Ross |first1=Greg |title=Plea |url=https://www.futilitycloset.com/2021/05/18/plea-3/ |website=Futility Closet |date=18 May 2021}}</ref>}}

[[File:Guillaume Apollinaire Calligramme.JPG|thumb|left|upright|A 1918 [[calligram]] by [[Guillaume Apollinaire]]: {{lang|fr|Salut monde dont je suis la langue éloquente que sa bouche Ô Paris tire et tirera toujours aux allemands}} ("Hello world, of which I am the eloquent tongue which your mouth, O Paris, will forever stick out at the Germans").]]

Gustave Eiffel responded to these criticisms by comparing his tower to the [[Egyptian pyramids]]: "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?"<ref name=Souriau>{{cite book|author1=Paul Souriau|author2=Manon Souriau|title=The Aesthetics of Movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7CzUTXhzDb8C&pg=PR7|year=1983|publisher=University of Massachusetts Press|isbn=0-87023-412-9|page=100}}</ref> These criticisms were also dealt with by Édouard Lockroy in a letter of support written to Alphand, sardonically saying,<ref>Harvie, 2006 p. 99.</ref> "Judging by the stately swell of the rhythms, the beauty of the metaphors, the elegance of its delicate and precise style, one can tell this protest is the result of collaboration of the most famous writers and poets of our time", and he explained that the protest was irrelevant since the project had been decided upon months before, and construction on the tower was already under way.

Garnier was a member of the Tower Commission that had examined the various proposals, and had raised no objection. Eiffel pointed out to a journalist that it was premature to judge the effect of the tower solely on the basis of the drawings, that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the monuments mentioned in the protest for there to be little risk of the tower overwhelming them, and putting the aesthetic argument for the tower: "Do not the laws of natural forces always conform to the secret laws of harmony?"<ref>Loyrette, 1985 p. 176.</ref>

Some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built; others remained unconvinced.<ref name=times1_4_89 >{{Cite newspaper The Times|title=The Eiffel Tower|department=News|date=1 April 1889|page=5|issue=32661|column=B|url=http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=wes_ttda&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=&docId=CS84463745&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0}}</ref> [[Guy de Maupassant]] supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible.<ref name=Jonnes>{{cite book|author=Jill Jonnes|title=Eiffel's Tower: And the World's Fair where Buffalo Bill Beguiled Paris, the Artists Quarreled, and Thomas Edison Became a Count|url=https://archive.org/details/eiffelstowerworl00jonn|url-access=registration|year=2009|publisher=Viking|isbn=978-0-670-02060-7|pages=[https://archive.org/details/eiffelstowerworl00jonn/page/163 163]–64}}</ref>

By 1918, it had become a symbol of Paris and of France after Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a nationalist poem in the shape of the tower (a [[calligram]]) to express his feelings about the war against Germany.<ref name=Greet>{{cite book|author=Guillaume Apollinaire|editor=Anne Hyde Greet|title=Calligrammes: Poems of Peace and War (1913–1916)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7FviP1Cl3jcC|year=1980|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-01968-3|pages=411–414}}</ref> Today, it is widely considered to be a remarkable piece of [[structural art]], and is often featured in films and literature.