THE BIGGEST MUSEUM IN THE WORLD
A PROGRAM BY KARINE TERSIN
HOSTED BY ERIC BRUNET
DIRECTED BY JACQUES D. BAKER
THE BIGGEST MUSEUM IN THE WORLD
Welcome to The World's Greatest Museum.
Every week, we'll present some of our national treasures:
well-known ones, but also some unexpected, unseen ones.
To give credit where credit's due, we're starting with the Eiffel Tower.
This was built in 1889
here on the Champ de Mars by the engineer Eiffel.
What you may not know,
is that, at the time, France needed a symbol
as it was a major world power along with England.
So, the French President Jules Grévy launched a huge call for bids
to install something marvellous and magnificent here.
107 projects made their way to his office.
There were a few crazy proposals, such as a huge tower
with a lighthouse that would light up Paris.
There was also a less glamorous proposal
to put a guillotine there
and another one for a giant watering can during the summer
to sprinkle the whole of Paris.
It was Gustave Eiffel's proposal which triumphed.
It would take 26 months, 300 workers working 320 meters in the sky
on wooden planks and no fatalities to report.
On May 15th 1889, up on the 3rd floor,
the French President Sadi Carnot
was next to Gustave Eiffel for the inauguration.
He turned to Gustave Eiffel and asked,
"Will your Tower hold up?"
Over 100 years later,
it is the symbol of Paris and France around the world
and is the world's most visited monument.
In a moment, a brief timeline of the Eiffel Tower.
See you inside.
Here is the Eiffel Tower
11 years after it was built during the Exposition Universelle in 1900.
However, ever since it was built,
Maupassant and other intellectuals were up in arms over this iron frame.
They didn't take it too well when it achieved recognition
with throngs of people visiting.
Highly-publicized stunts ensued.
These images from 1912
show a brave inventor known as Reichelt,
testing out his parachute.
This would be his last jump.
Against all odds, the Eiffel Tower became the symbol of France.
Going from the color yellow to red until 1968,
it was a hit with the lower classes.
It was embraced and thrillseekers came up with daring feats.
In 2000, Mr Eiffel's Tower
still reigned as the star of festivities
with its famous countdown and fireworks,
referred to as the world's most beautiful display
for this historic New Year's Eve.
How's the Eiffel Tower?
Thank you.
It's so beautiful.
It's spectacular. It's...
It makes you feel tiny.
It's romantic.
It's for a report on the Eiffel Tower.
It's impressive.
Thank you. - Bye.
That's a good 40-minute wait to go up the Eiffel Tower.
There are Moldovians, Czechs,
Uruguyans, Guatemalans, Canadians, Parisians,
everyone's here.
Hi, Sandrine. - Hi.
Two kisses. - OK.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is Sandrine.
What's your role here?
I'm the supervisor. - How many people do you supervise?
Around 20 people.
How many people work here?
In total, 250. - Wow.
Apparently, every night, between the hour and ten past,
people at the Eiffel Tower start cheering, is that true?
Yes, people clap. - How?
It happens all the time.
Often, people in the square
are completely in awe and happy, so they start clapping
and it really is a powerful moment for them.
I've also had some amazing experiences here.
Your best experience?
I was starting work at 9am,
from down below, the sky was overcast.
I passed through the clouds
and I found myself on the third floor
and the sky was blue and the sun was fantastic.
That's when I thought: this really is magical,
I'm probably the 1st person in Paris this morning to see a blue sky.
There you go. And that was extrarodinary.
Thank you very much.
Only people with 1st-floor tickets get off here, please.
How do you know which language to speak?
I hear many languages, do you guess by looking at them?
We start recognizing faces.
We do a quick scan in the elevator
and know whether there are Asians, Westerners, French people.
We can tell.
What does this place mean to you? Is it your office? Your routine?
It's the 1st wonder of the world. When I come to work, I'm on the road
and I see it from afar, it gives me goosebumps,
It's beautiful.
After eight years, the love hasn't died?
I think that even after 16 or 20 years it won't.
I'll always find it beautiful. - Thank you.
You're welcome. - Bye.
I have the pleasure of meeting Pierre Tchernia, hello.
Hello, Eric.
I wanted to meet Pierre on these grounds
because you must remember, you hosted a show
about the Eiffel Tower in the early 50s.
Yes, it must have been in '52.
It was called The Eiffel Tower Lovers.
The premise was a boy and a girl who won a competition
and you had Roger Pierre and Jean-Marc Thibault,
musicians and singers.
It was an outdoor variety show
on this platform right here.
The Eiffel Tower was very important when TV and radio started out
because it had the only transmitter in France.
So, when a film crew had to go live
and set up somewhere in Paris, it had to be seen.
That's right. We'd always say, "Can we see the Tower?"
"Yes, we can." Why did we do that?
Sometimes the transmission tower would fail,
so, if we were live with the Tower,
it made life a lot easier.
And there was a situation in January 1956 with the Eiffel Tower,
which you must remember, you were one of the few to be there.
Yes. It was the 1st year
we did election night.
I was playing a pivotal role. I wasn't Bernard Pivot,
but I was pivotal to the company.
And we had a studio with variety shows,
you know, the usual stuff.
We were happy because it was a big gig
and it was on air for the 1st time.
Then Jean d'Arcy, our director, said,
"It worked, but go up to the 7th floor and take a look.
"The Eiffel Tower is on fire!"
The Eiffel Tower was on fire.
It was amazing to see.
Picture a completely black backdrop
and smoke coming out of the tip with flames.
And the 441-line transmitter
was on fire.
When I was prepping, I realized that all intellectuals in France
from 1889,
were rising up against this metal pylon.
There were people who said it was terrible
and others who said it would collapse and we'd all die.
By the way, I was in a musical when I was a young man
called The Deadly Eiffel Tower
which was a story written by Guillaume Hanoteau
about prestigious university alumni
who were against Gustave Eiffel
and went out and committed crimes blaming it on the deadly Eiffel Tower.
There was music, dancing and...
But I've always liked the Eiffel Tower
because I think it's a superb monument.
It's funny, strange, and doesn't look like anything else.
Someone who loved the Eiffel Tower was François Truffaut.
He made sure that for his entire life, or most of it,
he'd live in places with a view of the Eiffel Tower.
Thank you, Pierre Tchernia
for being kind enough to come and hang out with us.
Can I head up to the 3rd floor? - You can.
Excuse me.
There are around 1,700 steps
to climb from the bottom to the top of the Eiffel Tower
and that's where I'm meeting Alberto,
the Tower's official painter.
He doesn't paint it from head to toe every five years,
but he does the maintenance work. Hello, Alberto.
How are you? - Fine.
So, how does it work? How many kilos or tons of paint
do you need to cover all of it?
Around 60 tons of paint...
..is used on the Eiffel Tower.
In fact, loads of pots disappear into thin air.
There you have it. - 60 tons.
How often do you paint the Eiffel Tower?
We re-paint the 1st and 2nd floors every seven years
and the 3rd floor every five years.
There are about 25 painters.
Is it a dangerous job? - It is.
Even when you get used to it,
it's still dangerous.
Are you strapped in? - With this contraption here.
Oh, right.
We go up bit by bit.
Has the Tower been several colors?
It has, yes.
It's been yellow, red.
There's an official color, right? It's Eiffel Tower brown.
Yes, it's in keeping with Paris.
It's in keeping with Paris
so a special paint is needed for Paris.
That's why it's the color that goes best with the Parisian cityscape.
You're basically a mountain climber.
Who trained you? Did you take any particular training course?
No,
but I would like to go mountaineering
since I never have.
There are painters who wouldn't know how to do what you do.
No.
There are actually some who came, stayed for a day and left.
They were too scared.
And you just casually work 320 meters in the sky?
Yes, in fact, I like it.
How many welders are down there? Three? Four?
Yes. We can go and see them if you want.
OK, gladly.
Yet another gallery that the public doesn't know about.
We're under the 1st floor, hanging in the air.
Exactly. - There are nets.
When you're working here, you always have to have...
You always have to attach the tools.
See how the helmet's useful too.
Here are the welders.
You should know, folks,
that Alberto, the Eiffel Tower painter,
is a worldwide celebrity.
You've been interviewed by countless TV shows around the world
and people write to you. - Yes.
People from Brazil and Argentina have sent me lottery tickets.
Lottery tickets? - Yes.
What for? - To pick their numbers.
Since I work in a unique monument,
they think I might bring their family a bit of luck.
It's touching, so, I send them numbers.
Have you had any money? - No, I haven't heard back from them.
You're never scared, are you? - No.
I'm more scared of travelling to and from work.
Yeah?
Because sometimes I ride in on my motorbike.
Even though it's not far, it scares me more than heights.
Well, thank you very much for showing us around
the inside of the Eiffel Tower.
See you later and be careful! - Thank you. Bye.
I'm going back to civilization
which comes in the form of a restaurant
on the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower:
Le Jules Verne.
The Eiffel Tower post office is like any other.
It's a bit smaller and they tend to carry out standard operations.
Why do people come? Many are foreign tourists looking for this:
This is a letter from the People's Republic of China
and this is the official stamp
from the Eiffel Tower post office.
Since its creation in 1889, people have tried to set records
with mountain bikes, stilts,
trial bikes, wheelchairs,
climbing up, going down, mountaineering, you name it.
Mountain climbers have tried their hand at the Tower.
Another record I want to mention, is the one with the lights,
with the beautiful lighting by Pierre Bidault
which light up the Eiffel Tower.
There are 5,000 spotlights
making up 20,000 lights which light up the Eiffel Tower.
They switch on as it gets dark.
Take a look at some of these beautiful images.
We know that since 1985, it's been illuminated from the inside
with this stunning golden lighting.
And we know that since June 2003,
it's been sparkling for a decade, lit up with 20,000 light bulbs
that twinkle for 10 minutes every hour
and put on an amazing show for Paris.
When in love, we're forgiving,
we'll withstand the cold, the snow and the extreme heat,
because we know that it tries to wow us more every day,
so we forgive the Eiffel Tower because we love it.
Before '86, the lights were on the outside.
The external lights couldn't illuminate the whole tower
and it was pathetic, compared to now, it was truly pathetic.
I've been working at the Eiffel Tower for 24 years.
We're always amazed
when we see the Eiffel Tower lit up at night and twinkling.
You don't see that anywhere else, so we're proud of that
because we work on it.
So, there's always an element of amazement.
We feel like it's a nugget of gold.
So, this here is Gustave Eiffel.
Hello, Mr Gustave.
Eiffel Tower management very kindly opened
Gustave Eiffel's office on the top floor of the Tower.
Hello, Stephane.
You're a historian and deal with all of the Tower's archives.
Did Gustave Eiffel really have an office on the top floor from 1889?
He did.
It allowed him to meet all the leading figures
who came to see the Exposition Universelle in 1889.
All the VIPs came here? - They did.
In fact, when we were reconstructing the office,
we added Thomas Edison
who had met Gustave Eiffel here in 1889.
So, what did Gustave Eiffel do before 1889?
He was a businessman, he was no newbie.
He was 57 in 1889, what had he done before the Eiffel Tower?
He wasn't unknown.
He was at the peak of his industrial career.
He had built hundreds of bridges all over the world
and had made his mark at the time,
being one of the rare few
to contribute to two of the world's most famous monuments.
He designed the structure of the Statue of Liberty
and worked alongside Bartholdi.
Apparently, the Eiffel Tower was sold,
that's what we've been told,
is that true or false?
Yes, there was a famous con artist in the 20s
called Lustig who sold it to a scrap merchant.
He'd faked documents and made him believe
that the Eiffel Tower would be torn down, so he sold it.
He was scared of being humiliated
so the scrap merchant never pressed charges.
Here, we're truly in the belly of the Eiffel Tower,
we're under the East Pillar of the tower
and this here is the technical system
which makes the elevators work.
They're just starting up now.
These are the oldest elevators in Paris, right?
Yes, they're the oldest, dating from 1899.
They're hydraulic elevators
and they were made for the exhibtion in 1900
and are in perfect condition.
Last year, they still managed to bring up 6.4 million visitors.
6.4 million? - Yes. On some days, it's over 30,000.
This really is the belly of the Eiffel Tower
and this can't be visited, but we'll do it for you.
Let's go meet Mr Camaret. - Our engineering manager.
Welcome to Gustave Eiffel's historical machinery.
Impressive. - This is the east elevator.
What's that giant counterweight moving?
That's the counterweight for the elevators
because they all need counterweights to ensure passenger safety.
How much does that weigh? - 80 tons.
What do you do to lubricate this very complex-looking mechanical system?
We use the same products Gustave Eiffel used back in the day:
Animal fats.
Really?
We use lard to keep the elevator braiding airtight
or we even use the nail...
..neatsfoot oil for certain systems.
Neatsfoot oil? - Absolutely.
There's only one supplier left in France
and I think we're its only clients.
How many hundreds of kilometers do these elevators travel per year?
Probably over 100 km?
The Eiffel Tower elevator does 20,000 km on average a year.
It's the equivalent of orbiting the world once, to give you an idea.
Impressive. Thank you for allowing us to visit
what you'll never get to see:
under the Eiffel Tower's East Pillar
where the elevator-controlling system is found.
Thank you. - Enjoy the rest of your visit.
Yves, where are we going now?
We're also going to go and visit
totally private premises under the Champ de Mars
which used to be home to a radio station for the military.
The bunker below the Eiffel Tower. Come on in.
In the years that came after the Eiffel Tower was built,
Gustave Eiffel fought tooth and nail
so that his Tower wouldn't be destroyed.
Yes. The radio station was dismantled in 1909,
so they ran many scientific experiments,
but luckily he crossed paths with a captain of engineering
called Captain Ferrié
who managed to get wireless telegraphs and military applications.
We can see on the 3rd floor of the Eiffel Tower,
in 1898,
a wireless telegraph experiment being transmitted via radio waves.
And that's when the military started to notice the advantages
of wireless telegraphy which they hadn't before.
That's why the Tower played a strategic role during World War I
a few years later,
particularly when it came to picking up enemy messages.
This allowed Gallieni's Taxis of the Marne operation
to plan a counteroffensive
and to stop advancement to the Marne
thanks to a message picked up from an antenna on the Eiffel Tower.
Hello, Ma'am. - Hello, Sir.
I saw you from behind, I thought you were feeding the pigeons.
Not exactly.
This is rather odd,
you're taking photos of the Eiffel Tower
even though it's grey and wet. Why?
This is a monument that's around 365 days of the year
so we can take pictures of it 365 days of the year.
The weather's not deterring tourists
and it never deters me from taking shots.
I try to make the most of climate conditions
to make my work more varied.
Do you play around with the reflections?
I play around with reflections by day, but when it's grey like this...
Can I see? - Of course.
So, are you a tourist or just passing through Paris?
I'm a Parisian. I'm a dental surgeon in Paris.
Objectively speaking, do you think the Eiffel Tower is beautiful?
On a grey day like today, it's not quite as beautiful,
but it becomes more romantic.
I think this tower is absolutely stunning,
particularly at night. And since 1986,
when Mr Pierre Bidault drew on his incredible talent
to design a new "evening gown" for it, that dazzled even me,
it made this monument, which I viewed as kind of mundane,
and which faded into the background, become magical.
Thanks. I'll let you get back to your photo-shoot.
You're welcome. - Thank you for your time.
I love to stand in the middle of these four pillars
and when you're in the middle...
..there are 7,500 tons of steel above you.
We're never inside or outside the Eiffel Tower.
One of its features is that it has many gaps
and the air in it has weight.
You should know that the air inside the structure
is heavier than the Eiffel Tower itself
which weighs 7,300 tons.
I'll leave you with those figures.
See you next week
for another new and quirky visit of one of our national treasures.
Bye, see you next week.
Subtitles: Babel Subtitling - babelSUB.be