Galerie des machines | |
---|---|
General information | |
Type | Exhibition pavilion |
Town or city | Paris |
Country | France |
Completed | 1889 |
Demolished | 1910 |
Client | Exposition Universelle (1889) |
Height | 48.324 metres (158.54 ft) |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Cast iron arches |
Floor area | 8 hectares (20 acres) |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Ferdinand Dutert |
Structural engineer | Victor Contamin |
The Galerie des machines (officially: Palais des machines) was a pavilion built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Located in the Grenelle district, the huge pavilion was made of iron, steel and glass.
A similarly-named structure was erected for the 1878 Exposition Universelle, but the 1889 version was by far the largest vaulted building to have yet been built. It was reused for the 1900 Exposition Universelle as the Palace of Agriculture and Food (officially: Palais de l'Agriculture et des Aliments), and later used as a velodrome, agricultural exhibition hall and for other purposes and was demolished in 1910 to open up the view along the Champ de Mars.
The Galerie des machines was built for the Universal Exposition of 1889 at the foot of the Champ de Mars in front of the École Militaire. Its architect was Ferdinand Dutert, [1] assisted by the architects Blavette, Deglane and Eugène Hénard. [2] The responsible engineer was Victor Contamin, assisted by the engineers Charton and Pierron. [3] The structure was built by the Société des Forges de Fives-Lille and the Cail factory, and the masonry was erected by the M. Manoury company.
The Galerie des machines formed a huge glass and metal hall with an area of 115 by 420 metres (377 by 1,378 ft) and a height of 48.324 metres (158.54 ft), it was free of internal supports. [4] The framework consisted of twenty trusses. [5] The structure incorporated the three-pin hinged arch, developed for bridge building. [6]
The Galerie des machines gave the exposition of 1889 an area of about 8 hectares (20 acres) of usable space. It was estimated in 1889 that the building was large enough to hold fifteen thousand horses in the ground floor and the same number of riders in the upper galleries without being crowded at all (the experiment was never made). [7]
The largest vaulted building at the time was St Pancras railway station, built in London in 1868, with a span of 73 metres (240 ft) and height of 25 metres (82 ft). The Palais des Machines had a span of 115 metres (377 ft) and height of 45 metres (148 ft). [5] The proportions of the structure were unfamiliar to people accustomed to heavy stone arches. The trusses were small at the base and larger higher up, and were light and narrow. [8] The Belgian Vierendeel said, "this lack of proportion produces a bad effect; the girder is not balanced; it has no base ... it starts too low ... The eye is not reassured ... The supports of the Galerie des Machines show another fault: they are too empty." [8]
During its twenty years of existence, the Galerie des machines was used for various purposes.
During the Exposition Universelle (1900) it held the French Exhibition of Agriculture and Food, the highlight of which was a ship with red and gold sails, a full size replica of the ship Le Triomphant , created by the Menier company. [9] Standing beside it was the Grande Roue de Paris, a Ferris wheel, one of the main attractions of the exhibition of 1900.
The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus show was held in the gallery from November 30, 1901 to March 16, 1902. [10]
From 1902, Henri Desgrange asked the architect Gaston Lambert to modify the Galerie des machines in order to create a track for cycling competitions, the auto-vélodrome d'hiver. The wooden track 333 metres (1,093 ft) across was built in 20 days. The velodrome, nicknamed "La Glacière" or the Vel d'Hiv, was inaugurated on 20 December 1903 and quickly became a popular success. In 1905 Gabriel Poulain defeated all comers. [11]
The annual General Agricultural Competition was held there until 1908. On 20 May 1904 the newspaper Le Matin organized a military competition: the Army Walk. [12] The Galerie des machines was transformed into a vast camp in which the competitors would rest, eat, and receive medical care. During the general strike of 1 May 1906, the troops assigned to policing the city were stationed there: six battalions of the 4th (Rennes), 47th (Saint-Malo) and 2nd (Granville) infantry regiments. There were also ten squadrons of cavalry regiments from the 6th army corps, and eight squadrons from various regiments of the 7th corps. [13]
In 1906 the City Council voted to demolish the building while the Senate and Minister of Architecture were in favor of its retention. In 1909 the city announced the destruction of the Galerie des machines to open up the perspective of the Champ de Mars. Desgrange decided to build a new cycling temple next door, at the corner of the Boulevard de Grenelle and the rue Nélaton, the new Vel d'Hiv.[ citation needed ] The Galerie was demolished in 1910. [6] The disappearance of the Galerie des machines dismayed the Architecture world, since the annual exhibition was the largest annual market for agricultural producers and suppliers, where all the most important business was undertaken. [14]
The Musée d'Orsay in Paris displays a model of the Galerie des Machines at a scale of 1/200. [15]
The Exposition Universelle of 1855, better known in English as the 1855 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, France, from 15 May to 15 November 1855. Its full official title was the Exposition Universelle des produits de l'Agriculture, de l'Industrie et des Beaux-Arts de Paris 1855. It was the first of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. Nowadays, the exposition's sole physical remnant is the Théâtre du Rond-Point des Champs-Élysées, designed by architect Gabriel Davioud, which originally housed the Panorama National.
The Exposition Universelle of 1900, better known in English as the 1900 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 14 April to 12 November 1900, to celebrate the achievements of the past century and to accelerate development into the next. It was the sixth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It was held at the esplanade of Les Invalides, the Champ de Mars, the Trocadéro and at the banks of the Seine between them, with an additional section in the Bois de Vincennes, and it was visited by more than fifty million people. Many international congresses and other events were held within the framework of the exposition, including the 1900 Summer Olympics.
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The Exposition Universelle of 1889, better known in English as the 1889 Paris Exposition, was a world's fair held in Paris, France, from 5 May to 31 October 1889. It was the fifth of ten major expositions held in the city between 1855 and 1937. It attracted more than thirty-two million visitors. The most famous structure created for the exposition, and still remaining, is the Eiffel Tower.
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Charles Léon Stephen Sauvestre was a French architect. He is notable for being one of the architects contributing to the design of the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the 1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France.
Eugène Alfred Hénard was a French architect and a highly influential urban planner. He was a pioneer of roundabouts, which were first introduced in Paris in 1907.
Charles Louis Ferdinand Dutert was a French architect.
Victor Contamin (1840–1893) was a French structural engineer, an expert on the strength of materials such as iron and steel. He is known for the Galerie des machines of the Exposition Universelle (1889) in Paris. He also pioneered the use of reinforced concrete.
Joseph-Eugène-Anatole de Baudot was a French architect and a pioneer of reinforced-concrete construction. He was a prolific author, architect for diocesan buildings, architect for historical monuments, and a professor of architecture. He is known for the church of Saint-Jean-de-Montmartre in Paris, the first to be built using concrete reinforced with steel rods and wire mesh.
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The Decauville railway at Exposition Universelle (1889) was a 3 km (1.9 mi) long 600 mm gauge railway line, which operated during the Exposition Universelle world fair from 6 May to 31 October 1889 from Esplanade des Invalides to Avenue de Suffren in Paris.
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