Wide Urban Spaces

Arts in the open add color to a busy city, especially round a hasty rail road station. At Place du Havre, a pile clocks tells you when the trains departure. Or so you would think.

‘Accumulation’ is a sculpture by the late French artist Armand Pierre Fernandez, known as Arman. It’s placed outside the east entrance of Gare Saint-Lazare on the corner of Rue Saint-Lazare and Rue d’Amsterdam. A tall stack of disused clocks towers several feet up in the air.

Arman’s long list of works includes many sculptures similar to the clocks. Apparently he piled anything from scorpions, tools, music instruments and weapons.

However, the clock sculpture fits perfectly on the plaza in front of the busy Gare Saint-Lazare railroad and subway station. None of the hands show the same hour, like none of the trains arrive or departure at the same time.

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It’s an icon of France. Almost anyone in the world knows that the Eiffel Tower is a landmark in Paris.

It was erected on Champs de Mars beside the Seine River between 1887 and 1889, designed by architect Gustave Eiffel. In the summer 2008, the Eiffel Tower became adorned with a symbol of the European Union, EU.

After France took over the presidency of EU in the second half of 2008, twelve yellow stars - as in the EU flag - were mounted on the north-west side of the tower between the first and the second level.

Typical for the French, some might say, but it’s hard to deny that the 1,063 ft (324 meter) iron structure is indeed the most famous landmark in Europe.

Perhaps one day the Eiffel Towel will be the symbol of Europe equal to what the Statue of Liberty is to USA. You gotta admit, it does fit the tower beautifully.

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