Description/    

This fixture was made of copper and iron wire mesh around 1900. It consists of a bulbous glass topped by a copper fireplace. This fireplace was carefully made: three crowns of latticed foliage are displayed there. Frames on the sides of the fireplace signal the possibility of opening it in the mid-way up. The glass is in turn covered with a wire mesh.

This chandelier is very similar to the lighting of the old Orleans station in Paris, today the Musée d'Orsay. Built by the Railway Company of Orleans to extend the line from the Gare d'Austerlitz, the Orleans station was inaugurated July 14, 1900 on the occasion of the World Fair. It was built in less than two years, Victor Laloux was chosen as the architect in 1898. The great hall, 138 meters long, was lit by the same type of lighting that we present here. A major innovation of this station was to use electric traction trains, at a time when electricity was just appearing on a large scale. The necessary energy was then provided by the generating plant of Ivry whose current powered the electric locomotives, all motors and pumps and the lighting circuit. Today, there are still a few identical lights in the Musée d'Orsay, particularly in the nave.