Auguste Bartholdi
Work on the Millau Viaduct started on 10 October 2001 and is on schedule for completion on 10 January 2005, 39 months down the road. It will have taken the French contractors just over three years to meet the challenge to build the highest bridge in the world. A look at this dramatic French project to link the North and South of Europe.
The little town of Millau in the South of France is better known in France for its horrendous summer traffic jams than for its Gallo-Roman pottery. Yet this traffic bottleneck on the A75 motorway, a North-South link running parallel to France’s backbone, the Rhône valley, is set to go up in its countrymen’s esteem. Since 17 December 2003, motorists have been able to bypass Millau and cross the Tarn Gorge over the highest motorway viaduct in the world.
The cable-stayed bridge’s tallest pillar stands at some 343 metres high, 19 metres above the Eiffel Tower itself. This apparent piece of trivia is really worth mentioning since the two structures do have several significant points in common. Like the Parisian monument, this work of art’s metal deck designed by English architect Lord Norman Foster was built by none other than Eiffel Construction. Moreover, just like the tower, the Millau Viaduct holds such fascination that some 400,000 sightseers have already flooded to see it.
The bridge is set to become a fully-fledged tourist attraction, just like its elder. The figures alone are eye-catching. Although the viaduct only touches the Tarn valley at seven points, the entire steel structure weighs no less than 36,000 tonnes. When complete, a total of 85,000 m3 of concrete will have been used to build this 2,460-metre long bridge.
The viaduct may be a work of art, but it is also a utility. It has been equipped with a whole host of technological advances to make it as safe and pleasant as possible for the comfort of its users and the area’s residents. Safety barriers specially designed to resist truck impacts, windbreaking screens and a video surveillance system coupled with an automatic accident detector system will all keep viaduct traffic moving smoothly.
The Millau Viaduct’s sustainable development outlook guarantees it trouble-free operation for 120 years. Moreover, since this bridge spans one of the best-preserved natural sites in France, particular attention has been paid to environmental protection. A stringent Environmental Protection Plan (EPP) has been in place right from the outset. It identifies the project’s different pollution risks, lays down preventive arrangements, organises checks and provides for measures to handle any pollution that may arise. A specially dedicated environmental protection team has drawn up a rigorous plan to ensure that nature is respected in all events. Water, air, noise ... everything is regularly checked on these worksites employing over 500 people for 39 months. The Eiffage group has been awarded the operation of the built-to-last viaduct under a 75-year concession agreement.
In addition to being a technical feat, the Millau Viaduct will improve traffic on the North-South route. It forms the last stretch of the A75 motorway, known as La Méridienne, completing the route from Paris to Béziers via Clermont-Ferrand. The opening of this link for free-flowing traffic should immediately
It’s so easy to forget that America’s most famous monument, the Statue of Liberty, was sculpted by a Frenchman: Auguste Bartholdi. The centenary of his death provides a good opportunity to look back at the rich creativity and skill of a man whose works adorn the major French cities along with New York and Washington. The Colmar and Belfort museums have joined forces to present a special exhibition of the artist’s work, showing through to January 2005. A biography of Bartholdi by academics Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond has also just been published in France by Editions Perrin. These two initiatives combine to underscore the exceptional creativity of the Alsatian sculptor, who made a symbolic figure of the concept of democracy.
The Statue of Liberty may be the world’s most famous sculpture, but the life of its sculptor remains unknown. And yet Auguste Bartholdi, the centenary of whose death is being honoured this year, is probably one of the greatest sculptors of the 19th century, a man who infused his monumental sculptures with inimitable emotion. A biography cowritten by Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond has just been published in France to right this injustice and pay homage to the man who devoted all his energy to celebrating liberty and venerating the heroes of the Third Republic. The Belfort and Colmar museums have also joined forces to present an exceptional exhibition on Bartholdi and his famous Lion of Belfort, a replica of which sits in state in the middle of the Place Denfert-Rochereau in Paris.
Auguste Bartholdi was born in Colmar, Alsace in eastern France in 1834. He set up his first studio in Paris when he was just sixteen years old. In 1855-1856, the artist made an inspiring trip to Egypt and Yemen and returned with armfuls of photographs and drawings, enthralled by the Egyptian sculptors’ sense of magic and mystery. Bartholdi’s talent won formal acclaim with the unveiling of the Lion of Belfort in 1880. The lion rising up on its haunches as if disturbed in its sleep was to become a symbol of pride for an entire region, which refused to accept Germany’s annexation of Alsace-Lorraine. Sadly, the sculptor died in Paris in 1904 without ever again seeing his native Alsace, occupied by Germany.
Bartholdi’s work can be seen in many French towns and cities worldwide. Just some examples are the sculptures in the Longchamp Palace in Marseilles, the Place des Terreaux fountain in Lyons, the Gribeauval statue in Les Invalides and the La Fayette and Washington monument at the Place des Etats-Unis in Paris. Washington owes him the Capitol fountain, New York his statue of Lafayette arriving in America in Union Square, and Basel his Switzerland Succoring Strasbourg statue. Bartholdi also immortalised the great men who made France: his bronze statues honour Rouget de Lisle, composer of La Marseillaise, republican Léon Gambetta, Egyptologist Champollion and Enlightenment philosopher Diderot.
Auguste Bartholdi was accepted by all regimes, as much by Napoleon III’s Second Empire as by the Third Republic. Yet as Robert Belot and Daniel Bermond point out, he gradually became a staunch believer in republican ideals. This can be seen from Bartholdi’s greatest work, the Statue of Liberty, which embodies his faith in universalism and democracy.
Although the Statue of Liberty now seems inextricably linked to the image we have of the United States, Bartholdi had considerable trouble getting his project accepted. On arriving in the United States on a visit to seek inspiration, he had the idea of placing his colossus on Bedloe’s Island, later to become Liberty Island. However, the project launched in 1871 was to take until 1886 to finish as contributions slowly trickled in from the American public to finance the statue’s pedestal. “Miss Liberty” is first and foremost a gift from the French people to the American people, independently of the two countries’ governments. With her inauguration, the work’s original intention of representing the French contribution to American independence was quickly lost as immigrants from the world over came to see her torch held high off America’s shores as the promise of a new life and the symbol of individual and political freedom. Bartholdi’s universal intuition shines forth here more than ever as an image of democratic values.
Pascale Fréry
Website: www.musee-bartholdi.com
clear congestion in the Rhône valley. Faster and less expensive than the Rhône route, the chances are that hauliers and holidaymakers will waste no time adopting the Millau Viaduct.
And the viaduct is more than a time and money saver for its users. Inhabitants see it as a real plus that will open up the region and bring in its share of new business.
Written by Bruno Gimmig
taken from Actualité en France (magazine of the ministry of Foreign Affairs)
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