The Eiffel Tower! by Gloria

 

          The Eiffel Tower is a monument of metal bars in Paris, France. It was once known as “the tallest structure in the world” in 1889, but now the tallest structure is the Burj Khalifa in Abu Dhabi at 2,717 feet. It is 1000 feet tall!

 

There were four people who designed this building: Stephan Sauvestre, Maurice Koechlin, Emile Nouguier, and the main engineer and architect who gets all the credit is Gustave Eiffel. This team started working on the Eiffel tower on January 28, 1887; this structure was compete on March 31, 1889. The reason they made the Eiffel Tower was to celebrate the 100^th anniversary of the French Revolution at the World Fair. The World Fair was a chance for inventors and artists around the world to show off their work. For instance the Eiffel Tower was unveiled, Alexander Graham Bell brought the telephone, and Thomas Edison brought the lightbulb! It was a very exciting time for Parisians as well as all the other people who came.

 

 

Today it is one of the most famous and loved monuments in the world! For the world it is the symbol of France, and for the French it is the symbol of freedom. To me the Eiffel Tower are the symbols of hard work, devotion, and of adventure as well as travel.

 

 

I am so excited to go there; the first activity I will do in Paris is visit the Eiffel tower. I’m going to have so much fun! My mother and I hope to have a picnic in front of the Eiffel tower and get a great view to look at it. We are going to stay there after the sun goes down, because every evening, the Eiffel Tower is adorned with a golden covering and sparkles for 5 minutes every hour on the hour, while its beacon shines over Paris. How exciting it will be to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle in all its glory!

 

Sacre-Coeur, by Gloria!

The Basilica de Sacre-Coeur is a church located in the Montmartre district of Paris.

 

My mom and I plan to visit here this summer. Doesn't it look amazing!?




Montmartre: the Mount of Martyrs

The Basilica of the Sacré-Cœur, erected at the end of the 19^th century after thousands of years of people worshipping on the grounds of Montmartre: The Gauls, the Romans, and the Christians at St. Peter's Church.

It is the highest point in Paris.

"A National Vow"

In 1870 war broke out between France and Germany. The Council that was being held in the Vatican at the time was suspended and the Pope, no longer under the protection of French troops, considered himself a prisoner within the Vatican. France was defeated and partially occupied by German troops. The initiative of Alexandre Legentil and Hubert Rohault de Fleury was a spiritual one. They vowed to build a church dedicated to the Sacred Heart “as reparation” (i.e. as penance for infidelity and sin) for they held that the misfortunes of France had spiritual rather than political causes.

At the end of 1872 Cardinal Guibert, Archbishop of Paris, approved the vow and chose Montmartre. At the end of 1873 he got the French Parliament to pass a law declaring that the Basilica was in the public interest, thereby making the land available for the construction of a church. At the time the construction of a Basilica dedicated to the Sacred Heart contrasted with a series of Basilicas dedicated to the Virgin Mary during the same period in Lourdes, Notre-Dame de Fourvière in Lyon and Notre-Dame de la Garde in Marseilles. The work was funded from donations - in many cases modest - collected throughout France, the names of the donors being carved in the stone.

Retrieved from:
http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/english/history-and-visit/article/the-origin-of-the-construction-of

Architecture

The Basilica was constructed by Paul Abadie and his crew. The style is just like Notre Dame; Paul Abadie was inspired by the great structure of it.

For a panoramic view of the Basilica of Sacre-Coeur, visit this link. It's awesome!

http://www.sacre-coeur-montmartre.com/english/visit/article/panoramic-virtual-tour-of