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La Tour Paris, école catholique internationale

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Exposition au CDI

• 58 % de mention TB
• 10 langues enseignées
• 1050 élèves accueillis
• 5 classes par niveau
• 110 professeurs

4 Square Rapp, 75007 Paris 01.40.67.77.77

Horaires d'ouverture de la billetterie.

Le mercredi : 11h-17h

Du jeudi au samedi : 12h-20h

Le dimanche : 12h-17h

Fermé les lundis et mardis

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Rendez-vous sur la billetterie en ligne (bouton "Billetterie" en haut de page)

PAR TelePHONE

Standard ouvert toute la semaine. 

(horaires billetterie)

01 40 67 77 77

AU GUICHET DU THeaTRE

Le mercredi de 11h à 17h

Du jeudi au samedi de 12h à 20h

Le dimanche 12h à 17h

Dès 20h le stationnement avenue Rapp

et dans les environs est facile et gratuit  ainsi que les dimanches et les jours fériés.  

EN MÉTRO

Ligne 9 “Alma Marceau” (7 min.) Ligne 8 “Ecole Militaire” (9 min.)

Lignes 42, 69, 80, 87, 92

À NOTER

Les portes ouvrent 45 minutes avant la représentation. Début de la représentation à l'heure précise.

Retardataires : Les horaires sont indiqués sur les billets. Par respect pour le public et les artistes, après le début du spectacle, les places numérotées ne sont plus garanties, les retardataires seront placés au moment opportun choisi par nos ouvreurs, aux places les plus directement accessibles. En cas de retard, les billets ne sont ni changés, ni remboursés.

Les photos, vidéos et prises de son sont interdites pendant les spectacles.

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La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower)

Robert delaunay 3958, museum folkwang essen, germany.

With his depiction of the Eiffel Tower , the symbol of Paris built in 1889 as a spectacular example of French engineering, Robert Delaunay produced a shocking scenario of the decline and fall of the modern world. His admiration for industrial progress contrasts with his pictorial destruction of the architectural construction, to the point of a formal dissolution of the motif. Its only remaining relation to the city is the view of the curved paths on the Champ de Mars . The tower itself, exploded into schematic pieces, traverses the painting diagonally, its tip covered by prism-like clouds. Delaunay dedicated this painting, part of a series of about 15 of the Eiffel Tower, to his friend, the poet Guillaume Apollinaire, who wrote ardent poems and texts on the artist's work and on the modern metropolis of Paris.

• Title: La Tour Eiffel (The Eiffel Tower)
• Creator: Robert Delaunay
• Creator Lifespan: 1885/1941
• Provenance: Acquired in 1964 with the support of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
• Type: Painting
• Rights: © Museum Folkwang
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Höhe: 130 cm
• Collection: Painting, Sculpture, Media Art
• Breite: 97 cm

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Marc Chagall

Les mariés de la Tour Eiffel

1938 - 1939

Marc Chagall (1887, Empire Russe - 1985, France)

A large white cockerel whisks the painter and his wife in full bridai finery into an indeterminate décor mingling Parisian and Russian elements. After their first trip to Paris from 1911 to 1914 and participation in the Bolshevik revolution, Marc Chagall moved to Paris with his wife Bella. The newly-weds are surrounded by a hotchpotch of souvenirs from Russia, music, Parisian life and animais. To the right, the couple's native Jewish quarter risks catching fire from the flames of a chandelier snatched by an upside-down angel. Seeing signs of imminent war in 1938-1939, Chagall painted a fragile happiness.

On display:

Museum, level 5, room 12

• Chagall Marc (1887-1985) (représenté)
• Ecole de Paris
• Paris (ville)
• Rosenfeld Bella (1895-1944) (représentée)
• Surréalisme (référence)
• Tour Eiffel (Paris) (représentée)

Show more Show less

Photo credits : Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI/Hélène Mauri/Dist. GrandPalaisRmn

Image reference : 4Y06557

Image presentation : l'Agence Photo de la RMN

Photo credits : Philippe Migeat - Centre Pompidou, MNAM-CCI /Dist. RMN-GP

Image reference : 4R09456 [1987 CX 0171]

Detailed description

Marc Chagall, Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, 1938-1939

Marc Chagall, Les mariés de la tour Eiffel, 1938-1939 en LSF

By the same artist

Alexandre Archipenko, Enrico Prampolini, Gino Severini, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Marc Chagall, Giorgio De Chirico, Natalia Gontcharova, Alexej von Jawlensky, Vassily Kandinsky, Mikhail F. Larionov

(Sans titre)

1921 - 1924

Maquette de décor pour "L'Oiseau de feu"

Notre salle à manger

La révolution

[1936 - 1937]

Le Dauphin mort et les 300 écus

[1954 / 1956]

L'ange et le marin

Principal, coulisse III

[1966 - 1967]

La petite chèvre

[1920 - 1921]

Jardin de Tériade, un palmier

1954 - 1955

Moïse bénit Josué

1965 - 1966

Chaga (Pas en avant)

La Chute d'Icare

1974 / 1977

Œuvres reçues en dation

Bibliography

External links.

La collection du Musée national d’art moderne

• The Eiffel Tower

  Official Eiffel Tower Ticket Office

The Eiffel Tower will be open during the Olympic Games except on July 26. Exceptionally, tickets for visits from June 17 will go on sale later than usual (instead of 60 days before the day of the visit). No tickets for this summer (including during the Olympic Games) are currently on sale, so do not buy tickets from websites promoting such offers. Keep an eye on our official online ticket office.

• Contact information

When do you want to visit the Eiffel Tower?

How many tickets do you need.

Young (12-24 years)

Children (4-11 years old)

Small children (younger than 4 years old)

Disabled individuals

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An order may include a maximum of 9 tickets

An order may only contain a maximum of 5 children’s tickets (4 years or younger)

An order may only contain a maximum of 2 RSA (earned income supplement) tickets

An order containing only children’s tickets (-4 years old and 4-11 years old) is not permitted.

“Adult”: Normal rate for adults 25 years old and over.

“Youth (12-24 years old)”: Rate for youth between 12 and 24 years old. Proof of age required.

“Children” (4-11 years old)”: Rate for children between 4-11 years old. Proof of age required. Mandatory purchase of an adult or youth ticket.

“Small children (younger than 4 years old)”: Free for children younger than 4 years old. Ticket and proof of age required. There is no left luggage office available, in particular for strollers.

“RSA (earned income supplement) recipients”: Rate applied to French RSA (earned income supplement) recipients only, available at the Tower's ticket offices.

“Disabled individuals”: Rate for disabled individuals only applicable upon presentation of valid certificate. Access to the Summit and stairs is not permitted for individuals with reduced mobility.

Online help

How much does it cost to visit the eiffel tower.

To check the prices for the Eiffel Tower, please visit this page on the official Eiffel Tower site . The Eiffel Tower online ticket office provides the official prices. The adult price applies to adults 25 years and over.  There are discount rates for young people (12-24 years old), children (4-11 years old) and for those with disabilities. Admission is free for children under 4 years old. The price of the ticket varies upon how you go up (elevator and/or stairs) and the destination (2nd floor or the upper floor) you select. 

The desired visit date is not available, what should I do?

Certain days (weekends, days during peak season between July and August) are in high demand and we sell out quickly, especially for e-tickets for the top floor, which are the most popular. If you are flexible, select another date that is shown as available. The dates marked in orange indicate that the last tickets are available. Lined out or grayed out dates are no longer available. If there is no more online availability, note that tickets to visit the Eiffel Tower are also sold on site at the ticket offices at the monument. Regardless, we sell our tickets online up to 60 days in advance (for lift tickets) and 14 days in advance (for stairs tickets to second floor). If you can, plan your visit well in advance, so you will have the choice of date, destination and time.  

How many tickets can I buy?

On the online ticket shop, you can buy up to 9 tickets for the same order. Groups who want to buy tickets, regardless of the number, must use the ticket office site reserved for groups.

The Eiffel Tower’s online box office allows you to purchase your ticket online for the 2nd floor or the Summit at the official rate. You can purchase individual e-tickets for up to 9 people. Tickets can also be purchased several weeks in advance. With the e-ticket system, experience no lines! You will directly receive your ticket by e-mail so you can print it at home or store it on your smartphone. If e-tickets are sold out for the date/time or destination that you search, it is always possible to purchase tickets on the spot on the day of your visit.  At the scheduled hour, go directly to the lifts or stairs without having to wait at the ticket stands. There are mandatory security checks at the Eiffel Tower’s entrance and before entering one of the pillars.

Tourism professionals, schools, associations:  professional ticketing website .

Destination to the top

An engrossing experience

« The Eiffel Tower Summit »

The most marvelous view of Paris

At the top of the Eiffel Tower, enjoy the highest view of Paris and its surroundings. With its 2 floors (one open-air and the other indoor), experience for yourself the majesty of Paris from all angles: witness the most eye-catching architectural beauties, monuments, and the Seine.

The office of Gustave Eiffel

At the top of the Tower, you will also discover a reconstitution of Gustave Eiffel’s office, the Tower’s creator. With its wax models, this scene depicts Gustave Eiffel and his daughter Claire receiving the famous American inventor, Thomas Edison.

Destination to 2nd floor

At the heart of the Tower :

« The Eiffel Tower’s 2nd floor »

The most all-encompassing experience

On the 2nd floor, you’ll be transported with amazement: With several monoculars located on both levels, Paris and its monuments will offer a scintillating pleasure to your delighted eyes. Take advantage of the large selection of activities, boutiques and restaurants!

Be at the forefront of a spectacular lighting show

During evening visits, the 2nd floor is the best spot to be to witness the Tower and its magnificent lit structure. Also don’t forget, Paris is the “City of Lights.” On the 2nd floor, you’ll have a front row seat for an unforgettable moment of scintillation at all hours!

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1889 : la Tour Eiffel et l'Exposition universelle : Musée d'Orsay, 16 mai-15 août 1989

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Uploaded by station31.cebu on February 7, 2022

SIMILAR ITEMS (based on metadata)

• The Official Eiffel Tower Website

Société d'exploitation de la tour Eiffel

Welcome to the official sete website.

The Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel operates, maintains, and runs events at the Eiffel Tower as part of a delegated public service contract with the City of Paris. Every year, SETE and its 340 employees welcome 6 million visitors to the Eiffel Tower. SETE’s aim is to improve and modernise every aspect of the Eiffel Tower, in an approach that focuses on security and quality.

What we do :

• Visiting the Eiffel Tower
• Haut de page

Episode 23: La course au sommet de la tour Eiffel (The Race to the Top of the Eiffel Tower)

When Valérie Hirschfield lost her leg, she made a promise to her family that she would bounce back stronger than ever — a promise that would one day lead her to race up France’s most iconic monument.

How to Listen

Listen free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Ngofeen: Valérie Hirschfield had grown up as a competitive gymnast, but by the time she turned 40, in 2005, she’d forgotten all about that life. She was a stay-at-home mom, living near Marseille in the south of France with her husband and their three sons. Raising three boys was enough of a challenge.

Valérie: Ma vie se passait autour de ma maison et de mes enfants. Le plus jeune, Elton, avait 9 ans. Daniel avait 13 ans, et le plus grand, Benjamin, avait 14 ans. J'étais très heureuse en tant que femme au foyer et maman. On habitait près de la plage. On faisait beaucoup d’activités. Avoir trois fils, c’est un challenge, mais j’étais très bien organisée.

Ngofeen: But then, in July 2005, Valérie fell ill. She had an infection in her leg that just wouldn’t go away. She underwent multiple surgeries to remove the infection. In one year, she had 17 surgeries, but she kept getting sicker and sicker.

Valérie: Cette maladie, c’était un enfer. À chaque opération, j’espérais que ça allait s’arrêter. Mais l’infection revenait toujours. En juillet 2006, je ne pouvais plus sortir de mon lit, parce que j’étais trop faible. J’avais perdu 18 kilos. J’avais l’impression que cette jambe, ce n’était plus la mienne.

Ngofeen: Valérie had to make the hardest decision of her life. She knew she needed to get her leg amputated. But first, she had to tell the kids. She told her sons the truth, that if she didn’t get the surgery, she would die. But she also made them a promise: when all this was over, she would be an even better version of herself.

Valérie: J’avais peur que mes fils me voient comme une personne faible. Je voulais les rassurer, et me rassurer moi aussi. J’ai promis que tout allait redevenir comme avant la maladie. Et que tout serait même mieux qu’avant.

Ngofeen: This promise would lead Valérie to reconnect to a side of herself she’d put aside since her high school days as a gymnast — her competitive streak. She’d soon come to seek out the excitement and the joy, le plaisir , she’d once felt at competitions, and push her body to new limits.

Valérie: Après l’opération, je voulais faire plus de choses. Je voulais faire des choses qui me faisaient plaisir, et puis surtout, repousser mes limites. J’ai voulu voir ce que je pouvais faire avec mon nouveau corps.

Ngofeen: Bienvenue and welcome to the Duolingo French Podcast. I’m Ngofeen Mputubwele. Every episode, we bring you fascinating true stories to help you improve your French listening and gain new perspectives on the world.

The storyteller will be using intermediate French, and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com .

Ngofeen: Valérie’s surgery went well, and just five days later, she was out of the hospital. She was so happy to put everything behind her that she was feeling reckless. She decided to take her boys to the beach, la plage .

Valérie: Aller à la plage, c’était un symbole. Pour mes fils et pour moi, c’était une preuve que tout allait redevenir normal, même si j’avais une jambe en moins.

Ngofeen: Valérie wrapped her leg in a plastic bag, she sat on her wheelchair and she took her sons to the beach. It was Valérie’s first real outing in almost a year. She could feel the warm breeze on her skin. When she looked at the turquoise water, she longed to go for a swim.

Valérie: Je suis allée dans la mer. Je suis restée près de la plage, parce que j’étais encore très faible. J’avais peur de me sentir mal. Je ne sais pas si j’avais le droit d’aller dans la mer, aussi vite après l’opération. Mais quand j’ai senti l’eau autour de moi, c’était comme si la vie recommençait.

Ngofeen: After that first dip in the sea, Valérie felt she had a new lease on life. The operation had worked and the infection was gone. She was so relieved she did everything she could to heal and to get used to her new situation.

Valérie: Le plus dur, c’était d’apprendre à vivre avec les douleurs fantômes. Mais j’ai repris ma vie, comme avant l’opération. Je devais être forte, pour mes fils.

Ngofeen: Valérie accepted her changed body as it was. She felt she had no need for a prosthetic leg. At home, she’d use her wheelchair, un fauteuil roulant . But when she went outside, she preferred going around with crutches, des béquilles . It gave her the best mobility.

Valérie: Beaucoup d’endroits ne sont pas adaptés pour les fauteuils roulants. Alors pour moi, les béquilles étaient plus pratiques. Je pouvais aller partout où je voulais.

Ngofeen: The only time she’d use a wheelchair outside was… to play tennis. She wanted to do things for herself that sparked joy, se faire plaisir . So she’d decided to get back into sports, and had found a regular tennis partner, a man who was paralyzed from the waist down.

Valérie: J’ai dit : « Je dois me faire plaisir. » Le tennis, c’était le premier sport que j’ai fait après l’opération. Pouvoir reprendre le sport, c’était très positif pour moi. La vie est redevenue normale. J’ai retrouvé ma joie de vivre.

Ngofeen: As the years went by, Valérie fully embraced her new normal. In 2012, six years after the surgery, one of her sons had to travel to Paris for a college entrance exam. She decided to go with him. She’d visit all the sights while he took his test. Valérie was excited, she’d never been to Paris!

Valérie: J’ai beaucoup habité à l’étranger, mais je n’étais jamais allée à Paris. J’avais 47 ans. J’allais enfin visiter Paris pour la première fois ! Je voulais tout voir, mais surtout, je voulais voir la tour Eiffel. J’avais vu beaucoup d’images de la tour Eiffel, et je la trouvais très belle.

Ngofeen: Valérie grabbed her crutches and headed to a park called le Champ-de-Mars to visit the most famous — and tallest — landmark in Paris: la tour Eiffel . The Eiffel Tower.

Valérie: Quand je suis arrivée en bas de la tour Eiffel, je l’ai trouvée encore plus belle que sur les photos. Bien sûr, je savais qu’elle était grande. Mais voir les quatre pieds, c’était très impressionnant.

Ngofeen: Valérie waited in line at the ticket booth. The cheapest tickets allowed you to walk up to the second level. For a little extra, you could take an elevator there. And for a little more, you could take a second elevator all the way to the top, to the tower’s third level, le troisième étage , roughly 1,000 feet above ground.

Valérie: Je voulais prendre l’ascenseur jusqu’au troisième étage. Je voulais monter en haut de la tour Eiffel.

Ngofeen: But when Valérie got to the ticket booth, the clerk took one look at her crutches, and he told her she could not go up to the third floor. Not with her disability. “Safety reasons,” he said. Valérie told him she did not want to take the stairs, just the elevator.

Valérie: L’employé m’a dit : « Les touristes peuvent seulement monter au troisième étage par l’ascenseur. Mais vous ne pouvez pas prendre l'ascenseur. » Il m’a dit que c’était impossible, par mesure de sécurité. Parce que s’il y avait un problème, je devais être capable de descendre par les escaliers.

Ngofeen: Valérie understood the concern. The employee could only let people in the elevator if he was confident they could go back down on their own. But she felt that on her crutches, she could evacuate as quickly as anyone.

Valérie: J’étais furieuse, parce qu’on décidait à ma place. Je suis la seule personne qui puisse dire ce que je suis capable de faire ou pas. Alors j’ai demandé à parler à son manager.

Ngofeen: Valérie made her case to the manager: she was a pro on crutches and she could evacuate quickly down the stairs. But there was something else at stake for her, too. She felt like she was being singled out just because she had crutches, while other people, with less visible health concerns, had likely been allowed to pass through.

Valérie: Personne ne demande aux personnes âgées si elles ont des problèmes cardiaques, pour vérifier si elles peuvent descendre rapidement les marches. J’ai trouvé ça vraiment injuste.

Ngofeen: Valérie eventually won the argument and made it all the way to the top floor of the Eiffel Tower.

Valérie: J’étais heureuse d’être tout en haut de la tour Eiffel, et de regarder la vue. C’était magnifique ! On voit tout Paris. C’était important pour moi de pouvoir être là. Je ne voulais pas être jugée par les autres. Personne ne sait ce dont je suis capable. Je suis la seule à connaître mes limites.

Ngofeen: After Valérie and her son returned home, that interaction with the Eiffel Tower employees slipped to the back of her mind. But she remembered her promise to her sons, and she felt that no one could tell her what her body could or couldn't do. She returned from Paris with a new competitive spirit.

Valérie: Je voulais voir ce que je pouvais faire avec ce nouveau corps. Je voulais montrer que j’étais comme tout le monde. Alors, j’ai décidé de faire des compétitions sportives.

Ngofeen: It started with a Facebook post about a paddleboard race, une course . There was a picture of people on a lake standing on their two legs on a board, paddle in hand. Valérie had never gone on a paddleboard in her life. But she was curious. It looked fun, rigolo .

Valérie: Je me suis dit que c’était rigolo. J’avais très envie de participer à cette course.

Ngofeen: Valérie went to the organizers. At first, they told her it was impossible. It was not a para-athletic competition and no one like her had ever participated. But Valérie convinced them that she could. She would get fitted for her first prosthesis and be the first disabled woman to ever participate in the race.

Valérie: Je me suis inscrite à la course. Pour me préparer, j’ai mis une prothèse. Et j’y suis allée ! Mais en réalité, c’était très dur, et je n’ai pas pu finir la course. J’étais très déçue.

Ngofeen: Not being able to finish the paddleboard race only increased Valérie’s competitive streak. So a year later, she signed up again, and this time, she finished! She was so happy that she started looking for other races on Facebook. And that’s how she discovered an event she had no idea existed: a vertical race… to the top of the Eiffel Tower!

Valérie: C’était incroyable. Pour moi, la tour Eiffel, c’est le plus beau monument du monde. Je voulais vraiment participer à cette course. Mais la tour Eiffel, c’est très haut ! Trois cent vingt-cinq mètres, ça représente plus de quatre-vingts étages… Alors, j’ai gardé cette idée en tête. Je me suis dit qu’un jour, je pourrais peut-être participer.

Ngofeen: Valérie didn’t think she could run up to the top floor of the Eiffel tower. But she couldn't let go of the idea of a vertical race. So she registered to race up a 25-floor tower. This wasn’t a para-athletic race either, so Valérie had to talk her way in. Again. She knew that with her crutches, she wouldn’t win, but all she wanted was to be allowed to compete… and to pass the finish line on the top floor.

Valérie: J’ai commencé la course, et je suis arrivée en haut des 25 étages très facilement. Alors, je suis redescendue. En bas, j’ai réalisé que je n’étais pas fatiguée. Alors, je suis montée une deuxième fois.

Ngofeen: By running the race twice, Valérie had climbed up 50 floors! She got really excited and decided to sign up for other races. In a six-month period, she climbed a tower in Paris’s financial district, La Défense. And then another one in Belgium, and then raced up Paris’s tallest office building: la tour Montparnasse.

Valérie: La tour de Montparnasse a 60 étages. C’était plus dur mais, encore une fois, je l’ai montée, et puis je l’ai remontée une deuxième fois tout de suite après.

Ngofeen: After climbing la tour Montparnasse two times in a row, Valérie realized that she’d climbed 120 floors… And that was way higher than the Eiffel Tower! She was ready to give the Eiffel Tower race a go. But first she had to convince the organizers.

Valérie: J’ai réussi à convaincre les organisateurs, et je me suis inscrite à la prochaine course. J’allais pouvoir monter tout en haut de la tour Eiffel. Cette fois, personne n’allait me dire que je ne pouvais pas monter au troisième étage.

Ngofeen: In March 2016, Valérie headed to Paris to run the race to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Valérie: J’étais impatiente. Je voulais monter tout en haut de la tour Eiffel à pied ! Les touristes ne peuvent pas faire ça, mais grâce à la course, j’allais pouvoir le faire. C’était incroyable.

Ngofeen: On the day of the race, Valérie arrived early. It would be her first outdoor vertical race. She paced around the Eiffel Tower on her crutches, taking in its height… roughly as high as the Chrysler building in New York City. She ogled its elaborate staircases and pictured herself going up the steps. All 1,665 of them.

Valérie: Je marchais autour de la tour. Regarder ce monument, c’était presque de la méditation. La tour Eiffel était vraiment très belle. J’avais une chance incroyable de pouvoir monter les 1 665 marches. Finalement, la tour Eiffel ne me semblait pas si haute que ça.

Ngofeen: A few hours before the race, a strong wind began to blow. The weather wasn’t looking good, and the race committee announced they were debating whether the race should go on. “It could be dangerous,” they said.

Valérie: Je commençais à m’inquiéter. J'étais venue spécialement à Paris. J’avais très envie de faire cette course, et de monter cet escalier jusqu’en haut de la tour Eiffel.

Ngofeen: The committee decided to keep the race on. But they warned the contestants that the higher they climbed, the stronger the wind would blow. It wouldn’t be easy.

Valérie: J’étais très heureuse. Mon objectif, c’était de monter en moins d’une heure et quinze minutes. Alors, je me suis préparée pour le départ.

Ngofeen: Valérie lined up with 130 other racers. The stairs were narrow, so the runners, les coureurs , had to go one at a time, leaving a few minutes between each. There was just enough room for other runners to pass Valérie. Valérie was the race’s only unijambiste , a person with one leg. Her goal was to reach the top in an hour and fifteen minutes. The fastest runner would take less than ten minutes.

Valérie: Quand ça a été mon tour, je suis partie. Bien sûr, j’allais moins vite que les autres coureurs. Beaucoup d’entre eux montaient plus vite que moi. Certains coureurs étaient très concentrés et ne me remarquaient même pas. D’autres me disaient bravo. Un coureur m’a fait une bise sur la tête !

Ngofeen: As Valérie climbed the narrow staircase, more and more runners passed her. And the weather conditions started to get intense. The wind was getting stronger and it started raining. The metallic stairs got very slippery, or glissantes .

Valérie: Il faisait vraiment très froid. À cause de la pluie, les marches étaient très glissantes. Avec les béquilles, c’était vraiment difficile. Je devais monter sous la pluie et contre le vent. Le vent était très fort. Le bruit du vent entrait dans mes oreilles et résonnait dans toute ma tête.

Ngofeen: Valérie could feel her head ringing and her chest burning. The exertion and the wind made it hard to breathe, and she was gasping for air.

Valérie: C’était la première fois que je faisais une course verticale dehors. Je devais faire attention à tout mon environnement. À cause du vent, je sentais parfois les béquilles s’envoler.

Ngofeen: Hoping her crutches wouldn't fly sideways, Valérie pressed on. Finally, she reached the flight of stairs before the third level — the one so narrow that tourists weren’t allowed to climb it.

Valérie: J’ai commencé à monter le dernier escalier. Rapidement, je suis arrivée en haut, sur la plateforme.

Ngofeen: Valerie had made it! But she barely had time to celebrate.

Valérie: Deux journalistes sont tout de suite venus vers moi pour me poser des questions.

Ngofeen: The moment she realized she had made it to the top, she got snatched away by reporters. And as soon as that interview was over, she had to take the elevator back down to the ground, to make place for the other runners.

Valérie: Ça a été tellement rapide ! Je n’ai pas réalisé ce qui se passait. Dans l’ascenseur, je n’avais pas encore repris ma respiration. En descendant, je me suis dit : « Déjà ? C’est déjà fini ? Je n’ai même pas eu le temps de regarder la vue ! »

Ngofeen: Valérie couldn’t believe how fast everything had happened since she’d put her crutches on the first step of the Eiffel Tower. When she arrived back on the ground, she discovered her time. Fifty-two minutes, way under her goal of an hour and fifteen minutes!

Valérie: C’était fou ! J'étais montée tout en haut de la tour Eiffel, le plus beau monument du monde. Mais surtout, j’avais réussi mon objectif. Cette course, c’est l’un de mes plus beaux souvenirs. Si je pouvais recommencer, je le ferais sans hésitation.

Ngofeen: Today, Valérie wants to see how far she can go. Looking back on her promise to her sons, Valérie feels that since losing her leg, she has become a better version of herself.

Valérie: J’ai tenu ma promesse. Pour mes fils, j'ai toujours été la même maman. Mais j'ai aussi appris à prendre plus soin de moi, à me faire plaisir, et à vivre ma vie sans limites.

Ngofeen: Valérie Hirschfield lives in La Seyne-sur-Mer, near Marseille, and she wants to give a special shout-out to her husband Larry and their three sons.

Valérie: Merci Larry, Benjamin, Daniel, et Elton.

Ngofeen: This story was produced by Adélie Pojzman-Pontay.

We’d love to know what you thought of this episode! Send us an email with your feedback at [email protected] . And if you liked the story, please share it! You can find the audio and a transcript of each episode at podcast.duolingo.com . You can also subscribe at Apple Podcasts or your favorite listening app so you never miss an episode.

Duolingo is the world's leading language learning platform, and the #1 education app, with over 300 million users worldwide. Duolingo believes in making education free, fun and accessible to everyone. To join, download the app today, or find out more at duolingo.com .

The Duolingo French Podcast is produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m your host, Ngofeen Mputubwele, à la prochaine !

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media .

La Clef Tour Eiffel, our 5 star hotel Paris Eiffel Tower

Art and the Eiffel Tower

From the beginning the Tower was an attraction, but in the 1920s it became a symbol of modernity and the avant-garde. Little by little, its image was associated with Paris, until it even became its worldwide symbol.

Poets, painters, singers, choreographers, film directors, and photographers have all paid homage to it.

Painting and the Eiffel Tower

Ahead of their time, painters made the Tower into a favourite subject, and contemporary artists continue to use it as a model.

Georges Seurat painted it in 1888, before it was even finished. Later on, le Douanier Rousseau, Signac, Bonnard, Utrillo, Gromaire, Vuillard, Dufy, and Chagall all celebrated the Tower. From 1910 Robert Delaunay gave it cubist aspects in a whole series of canvas paintings.

A few painters:

• 1888 - Georges Seurat : « La Tour Eiffel » (Fine Arts, Museum of San Francisco).
• 1889 - Jean Beraud : « Entrée de l’Exposition Universelle » (Musée Carnavalet, Paris).
• 1890 - Le Douanier Rousseau : « Moi-même, portrait paysage » (Narodni Galerie, Prague).
• 1899 - Paul Signac : « Seine Grenelle » (Coll. Particulière).
• 1910/1912 - Robert Delaunay : « La Ville de Paris » (MNAM - Centre G. Pompidou, Paris).
• 1911/1912 - Robert Delaunay : « La Tour Rouge » (S.R. Guggenheim Museum, New York).
• 1912 - Romaine Brooks : « Jean Cocteau à l'époque de la grande Roue » (MNAM - Centre G. Pompidou, Paris).
• 1913 - Marc Chagall : « Paris par la fenêtre » (S.R. Guggenheim Museum, New York).
• 1954 - Nicolas de Staël : « La Tour Eiffel » (Musée d'Art moderne, Troyes).
• 1954/1955 - Marc Chagall : « Le Champ de Mars » (Musée Folkwang, Essen).

Also: Raoul Dufy, Gino Severini, Utrillo, Bernard Buffet, Pol Bury, Roger Lersy…

The Eiffel Tower, a muse for the seventh art

Filmed by Louis Lumière from as early as 1897, and present ever since in a considerable number of productions, the Eiffel Tower was all the more tied to the adventure of cinema as Gustave Eiffel contributed as a silent partner to the company created by Léon Gaumont in 1895. During the 20th Century, the Eiffel Tower became the symbol of Paris and of France throughout the world. From the beginnings of cinema to today, its presence has given us somewhere to set the plot, or allowed us to give our works a timeless or romantic edge.

The Tower also inspired poets, writers, and philosophers

Among them can be named Blaise Cendrars, Guillaume Apollinaire, Louis Aragon, Raymond Queneau, Jean Cocteau, Jean Giraudoux, Le Corbusier, François Coppée, Dino Buzzati, and Guy de Maupassant, not to mention Roland Barthes and his magnificent texts (“The Eiffel Tower” - Ed. Delpire - 1964).

A source of inspiration for songs, another tradition is to put on grandiose events at its feet, like that of the 25th September 1962 when Darryl F. Zanuck organised a mind-blowing event for the launch of the film “Le jour le plus long” (“The Longest Day”). Edith Piaf appeared on the 1st floor and sang in front of 25,000 Parisians. Charles Aznavour and Georges Brassens would follow in 1966 to help the campaign against hunger. Jean-Michel Jarre presented the 50th birthday of UNESCO on the 14th July 1995. The “3 Tenors” concert brought together over 200,000 spectators in July 1998 at the foot of the Tower to listen to José Carreras, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti. Johnny Hallyday broke all the records in June 2000 by uniting 600,000 spectators for a concert and pyrotechnic event.

The Tower is also a privileged place for private concerts and other showcases in the reception room on the 1st floor, such as those of Alanis Morissette, Robbie Williams, Texas, Raphaël, Marc Lavoine, Christophe Maé, Justin Bieber, and VV Brown, as well as Véronique Sanson.

A few songs:

Jacques Hélian : « Paris, mais c’est la Tour Eiffel… »

Charles Trénet : « Y a d’la joie, la Tour Eiffel part en balade… »

Jacques Dutronc : « La Tour Eiffel a froid aux pieds… »

Léo Ferré : « Paris portait sa grande croix… » 

Pascal Obispo : « Je suis tombé pour elle… »

• Musical theatre: “Les Mariés de la tour Eiffel” (“The Marriage on the Eiffel Tower”) by Jean Cocteau  
• "Silhouette": a work from Estonian composer Arvo Pärt for string orchestra and percussion. As homage to Gustave Eiffel, it was created in 2010.

The Eiffel Tower and Advertising

For many years, the Eiffel Tower has been used in advertising. On the spire of the Tower itself, between 1925 and 1936, “Citroën” was written in luminous letters.  

Since then, Air France, La Samaritaine, Sony Ericsson, Yves-Saint-Laurent, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Philips, Nina Ricci, Alain Afflelou, ADP, American Express, Dior, and Givenchy, are among the best known brands to have used it as a reference image.

How to use image of the Eiffel Tower ?

Its most original artistic vocation: pyrotechnics

From as early as 1888, a firework was set off to celebrate the completion of the construction of the monument.

In 1937, for the Exposition des Arts et Techniques, a lighting system was designed by the architect André Granet. Every evening, magnificent fireworks, veritable fountains of fire, were set off from each of the Tower’s three floors.

More recently, the “Countdown to the Year 2000”, a veritable dance of fire and light, broadcast by 250 television channels around the world, fired the planet’s imagination. The event was produced by Groupe F and ECA2.

Lastly, on the 14th July 2009, the traditional pyrotechnics took place on the Tower (and not at the Trocadero, where the firework show to celebrate the Fête Nationale was still put on by the Mayor of Paris) following the theme of its 120th birthday.

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On the same theme

The Eiffel Tower Laboratory

The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be destroyed only 20 years after its construction. To remedy the situation, Gustave Eiffel had the ingenious idea of crediting it with a scientific purpose – the Tower was saved!

The Eiffel Tower’s Illuminations

Every evening, the Eiffel Tower is adorned with its golden covering and sparkles for 5 minutes every hour on the hour, while its beacon shines over Paris.

Painting the Eiffel Tower

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