Gustave Eiffel, Bronze memorial at Eiffel Tower, France.
This bust is a bronze sculpture with gold leaf coating, positioned at the base of the iron tower. Dates inscribed on its surface mark the engineer's birth and death years.
Gustave Eiffel died in 1923; in 1926 a committee chaired by General Ferrié petitioned Paris to raise a monument at the tower's foot, with subscriptions opened in 1928. Antoine Bourdelle made the bust, dated by some sources to 1900 and by others to 1927, and Auguste Perret with André Granet designed the stone stele. It was inaugurated on 2 May 1929 before Eiffel's descendants.
The stone stele beneath the bust is engraved simply "Eiffel / 1832-1923". The monument was inaugurated on 2 May 1929 in the presence of Eiffel's children and grandchildren, with speeches by General Ferrié and Louis Germain-Martin, then under-secretary of state for posts and telegraphs because the tower carried radio transmissions.
The sculpture sits at one of the tower's pillars and is easy to spot when you arrive at the site. The best views come when sunlight hits the gilded surface from different angles throughout the day.
The stone stele beneath the bust is engraved simply "Eiffel / 1832-1923". A 29 cm plaster and cardboard model was given to the State in 1981 by the Eiffel and Granet heirs and is kept at the Musée d'Orsay (RF 3613); a 59 cm version is at the Musée Bourdelle.
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