Work on the Sagrada Família began before the Eiffel Tower.
Its first stone was laid in 1882; the tower took about two years to finish in 1889, while the Barcelona church was still unfinished in 2012.
The events
- Sagrada Família begun1882 · Barcelona. Work on the Basilica of the Holy Family began in 1882, and a year later Antoni Gaudí took over, devoting the rest of his life to it. Funded by donations, construction continues to this day.
- Eiffel Tower1889 · Paris. Gustave Eiffel's 300-metre tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair, marking the centenary of the Revolution. It was due to be dismantled after 20 years but was saved by its use as a radio antenna.
More amazing facts
- 1879 Saccharin was discovered by not washing up before dinner.
- 1881 Painters of the 18th and 19th centuries used paint made from mummies. 'Mummy brown' was ground from Egyptian mummies; on learning this in 1881, the Pre-Raphaelite Edward Burne-Jones gave his tube a solemn burial.
- 1882 English owes the word 'jumbo' to an elephant.
- 1883 The last quagga died at Amsterdam Zoo on 12 August 1883 — two weeks before Krakatoa's catastrophic eruption.
- 1883 · 1884 The Brooklyn Bridge was proven safe with elephants: in May 1884 P. T. Barnum marched 21 of them across, led by the famous Jumbo, easing public doubts and advertising his circus at once.
- 1883 · 1892 A German hygienist drank a cholera culture to prove Koch wrong.