The
Eiffel Tower (
French:
La Tour Eiffel,
[tuʁ ɛfɛl], nickname
La dame de fer, the iron lady) is an 1889
iron lattice tower located on the
Champ de Mars in
Paris that has become both a global
icon of
France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The
tallest building in Paris,
it is the most-visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named for its designer, engineer
Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch to the
1889 World's Fair.
The tower stands 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall, about the same height as an 81-storey building. Upon its completion, it surpassed the
Washington Monument to assume the title of tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the
Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930. Not including
broadcast antennas, it is the
second-tallest structure in France after the 2004
Millau Viaduct.
The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by
stairs or
lift, to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by elevator. Both the first and second levels feature
restaurants.
The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France, often in the
establishing shot of
films set in the city.
History----
The structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the
Exposition Universelle, a
World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the
French Revolution. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of
puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using two and a half million rivets, in a
structural design by
Maurice Koechlin. Eiffel was assisted in the design by engineers Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin and architect Stephen Sauvestre.
The risk of accident was great as, unlike modern
skyscrapers, the tower is an open frame without any intermediate floors except the two platforms. However, because Eiffel took safety precautions, including the use of movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died. The tower was
inaugurated on 31 March 1889, and opened on 6 May.
The tower was much criticised by the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore. Newspapers of the day were filled with angry letters from the arts community of Paris. One is quoted extensively in William Watson's US Government Printing Office publication of 1892
Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture: "And during twenty years we shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates."
Signers of this letter included
Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier,
Charles Gounod,
Charles Garnier,
Jean-Léon Gérôme,
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and
Alexandre Dumas.
Novelist
Guy de Maupassant—who claimed to hate the tower
—supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure. Today, the Tower is widely considered to be a striking piece of structural art.
One of the great
Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to 7 stories, only a very few of the taller buildings have a clear view of the tower.
Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years; it was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the
City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit. The military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during the
First Battle of the Marne.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
