The Galerie des machines (officially: Palais des machines) was a pavilion built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. Located in the

Grenelle Grenelle () is a neighbourhood in southwestern Paris, France. It is a part of the 15th arrondissement of the city. There is currently a Boulevard de Grenelle which runs along the North delimitation of the ''quartier'', and a Rue de 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 A velodrome is an arena for track cycling. Modern velodromes feature steeply banked oval tracks, consisting of two 180-degree circular bends connected by two straights. The straights transition to the circular turn through a moderate Track tran ...

, agricultural exhibition hall and for other purposes and was demolished in 1910 to open up the view along the

Champ de Mars The Champ de Mars (; en, Field of Mars) is a large public greenspace in Paris, France, located in the seventh ''arrondissement'', between the Eiffel Tower to the northwest and the École Militaire to the southeast. The park is named after the ...

Construction

The Galerie des machines was built for the Universal Exposition of 1889 at the foot of the

in front of the

École Militaire École may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * École, Savoi ...

. Its architect was

Ferdinand Dutert Charles Louis Ferdinand Dutert (21 October 1845 - 12 February 1906) was a French architect. Life Charles Louis Ferdinand Dutert was born on 21 October 1845 in Douai, son of a merchant of that town. He was admitted to the École nationale supé ...

, assisted by the architects Blavette, Deglane and

Eugène Hénard Eugène Alfred Hénard (22 October 1849 – 19 February 1923) was a French architect and a highly influential urban planner. He was a pioneer of roundabouts, which were first introduced in Paris in 1907. Hénard advocated several major urban p ...

. The responsible engineer was

Victor Contamin 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 re ...

, assisted by the engineers Charton and Pierron. 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 and a height of , it was free of internal supports. The framework consisted of twenty trusses. The structure incorporated the three-pin hinged arch, developed for bridge building. The Galerie des machines gave the exposition of 1889 an area of about 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). The largest vaulted building at the time was

St Pancras railway station St Pancras railway station (), also known as London St Pancras or St Pancras International and officially since 2007 as London St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It is ...

, built in London in 1868, with a span of and height of . The Palais des Machines had a span of and height of . 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. 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."

Usage

During its twenty years of existence, the Galerie des machines was used for various purposes. During the

Exposition Universelle (1900) 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 developmen ...

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. 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 Mars 16, 1902. From 1902,

Henri Desgrange Henri Desgrange (31 January 1865 – 16 August 1940) was a French bicycle racer and sports journalist. He set twelve world track cycling records, including the hour record of on 11 May 1893. He was the first organiser of the Tour de France. Yo ...

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 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 Gabriel Poulain was a French champion cyclist. He made several attempts to achieve human-powered flight and in July 1921 won a prize of 10,000 francs awarded by Peugeot for a flight of ten metres at a height of one metre, on a bicycle with two win ...

defeated all comers. 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. 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.

Destruction

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''. The Galerie was demolished in 1910. 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.Le Petit Parisien (Paris) du 2 octobre 1909 The

Musée d'Orsay The Musée d'Orsay ( , , ) ( en, Orsay Museum) is a museum in Paris, France, on the Left Bank of the Seine. It is housed in the former Gare d'Orsay, a Beaux-Arts railway station built between 1898 and 1900. The museum holds mainly French art ...

in Paris displays a model of the Galerie des Machines at a scale of 1/200.

Gallery

File:Le montage des fermes de la Galerie des machines.jpg, Mounting the iron beams File:Interior of Gallery of Machines, showing machines being set up, Paris Exposition, 1889.jpg, Machines being installed, 1889 File:Vue intérieure de l'escalier du promenoir des machines, Exposition universelle 1889.jpg, Dome located between the Palais des expositions and the Palais des machines. The staircase led to the second floor of the Palais des machines, where an inner platform was surrounding the whole building. File:Galerie des machines. Les ponts roulants.jpg, Moving bridges transporting visitors File:Vue d'ensemble de la Galerie des machines, Exposition 1889.jpg, Inside view, 1889 File:Interior of exhibition building, Exposition Universal, Paris, France.jpg, Another indoor view, 1889

References

Citations Sources * * * * * * * External links
Galerie des Machines
Structurae
Les Chantiers de l'Exposition universelle de 1889
at Gallica
The Palais des Machines of 1889. Historical - structural reflections
Paper written by Javier Estévez Cimadevila & Isaac López César about the structure of The Galerie des Machines {{Coord, 48.8536, N, 2.3018, E, source:wikidata, display=title Buildings and structures in the 7th arrondissement of Paris World's fair architecture in Paris Cast-iron architecture Velodromes in France Former buildings and structures in Paris Buildings and structures demolished in 1910 Exposition Universelle (1889)