Pavilions
Wow, modelling those pavilions had been quite a challenge! Even the Champs de Mars contains dozens of them, and each one is totally unique. But not only that - getting qualified reference was quite hard. In most cases there don't exist any architectual drawings anymore.
Really useful was a website dealing with past world exhibitions. And I was lucky puzzling over a guy called Hippolyte Blancard who shot hundreds of photos during the exhibition. He might have been the official photographer of the 1889 Expo.
Without those two ressources I wouldn't have managed. But it was quite ambitious work anyway. Especially Mr. Blancards pics aren't really well documentaded. He mainly seemed to be an enthusiastic visitor shooting everything that came into his mind without having a kind of master plan or scheme.
It took me hours and hours watching one photo showing one pavilion (or even just the corner of a pavilion) and trying to figure out: Ah, it must be Pavilion XY.
Not to speak about proportions. In some cases the historical photos showed some humans as well - which enabled me to suggest the proportions of the building.
Honestly speaking I didn't succeed in all the cases. For some few pavilions I didn't find one single pic. In those cases I cheated a little...
Another problem was the level of details. Of couse those pavilions are scenery work and shouldn't abstract from the Tower, but unfortunately being located around the Tower's legs they are not part of the background. Doing closeup renders of some Tower details meant having parts of a pavilion in the foreground...
Lastly it was compromise work. But I think I came along half way.
Most of those pavilions represent a certain country. Let me introduce just a few of them, starting with the biggest one: The Argentine pavilion:
Next to it we have the Brasilian pavilion including a really charming conservatory:
Sweden and Norway were represented by wooden chalets:
A little outstanding is the Bolivian pavilion due to its striped design:
Another one: Pavilion of Monaco:
Some other pavilions dealt with general resp. technical topics. First to mention the Pavillon des Téléphones:
Telephones have been invented by Alexander Graham Bell just 13 years earlier, so this wasn't mass technology in 1889 yet.
Another one called "Globe Terrestre" hosted a huge globe:
... which found its counterpart in the "Panorama Transatlantique":
Christian seafaring was represented, too - sensibly located next to the River Seine:
... and lastly Mr. Eiffel had his own pavilion, including a small observatory:
... to mention just a few.
A small railway (Decauville railway) linked the quite distanced areas of Champs de Mars and the Invalides:
... and last but not least we have two wooden pedestrian bridges leading the visitors from the Champs de Mars to the pavilions located next to the River Seine:
Finally let's have a look at the whole area:
