Eiffel Tower
 |
The Tower at sunrise. |
The
Eiffel Tower (
pronounced ; , pronounced ) is an
iron tower built on the
Champ de Mars beside the River
Seine in
Paris. It is the
tallest structure in Paris and among the most recognized symbols in the world. Named after its designer, engineer
Gustave Eiffel, it is a premier
tourist destination.
|
The Eiffel Tower in 1945. |
The tower stands 300 m (986 ft) high, which is about 75 stories. Including the 24-m (72-ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1058 ft) high which is about 81 stories. At the time of its construction in
1889, the tower was the
tallest structure in the world, a title it retained until
1930, when
New York City's
Chrysler Building (319 m/1046 ft tall) was completed (although the tower was still taller if the respective spires of the two structures were excluded). The tower is the second-highest structure in France, after the 350-m
Allouis longwave transmitter, built in
1939. The Eiffel tower is the highest structure in Paris. The second-highest structure in Paris is the
Tour Montparnasse (Montparnasse Tower), at 209 m.
The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300
tonnes, and the total weight is 10,100 tonnes. The number of
steps to the summit has varied over the history of the tower, through various renovations: at the time of construction in 1889, there were 1710 steps to the summit platform at 300.65 m; after renovation in the early 1980s, there were 1920 steps; and today there are 1665 steps (although it is not possible for the public to reach the summit via the stairs—elevators are required beyond the second platform).
Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 8 cm (3.25 inches), due to
expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun.
Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 tonnes of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from
rust. On occasion, the colour of the paint is changed â€" the tower is currently painted a shade of brown. On the first floor, there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of painting.
|
Eiffel Tower under construction in July 1888. |
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. It is located at
geographic coordinates . The tower was inaugurated on
31 March 1889, and opened on
6 May. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of
puddled iron (a very pure form of structural iron), using three and a half million
rivets, in a structural design by
Maurice Koechlin. The risk of accident was great, for unlike modern skyscrapers the tower is an open frame without any intermediate floors except the two platforms. Yet because Eiffel took good care of his workers with movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died, during the installation of
Otis Elevator's
lifts.
The tower was met with resistance from the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore (Novelist
Guy de Maupassant ate at a restaurant at the tower regularly, because it was the one place in Paris he was sure he wouldn't see it). Today, it is widely considered to be one of the most striking pieces of structural art in the world.
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 a few stories, only the very few taller buildings have a clear view of the tower.
Originally, Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years (when ownership of it would revert to the City of Paris, who had originally planned to tear it down; part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily torn down), more than recouping his expenses, but as it later 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 of the Marne, and it therefore became a victory statue of that battle. It was also used to catch the infamous "
Mata Hari", and after this, its demolition became unthinkable to the French population.
 |
The lace-like iron detailing. |
Since the beginning of the
20th century, the tower has been used for
radio transmission. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchors on the
Avenue de Suffren and
Champ de Mars. They were connected to long-wave transmitters in small bunkers; in
1909, a permanent underground radio center was built near the south pillar and still exists today. Since
1957, the tower has been used for transmission of
FM radio and
television.
The tower has
two restaurants:
Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m above
sea level); and the
Jules Verne, an expensive
gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a private elevator. This restaurant has one star in the
Michelin Red Guide.
 |
Looking down from the top observation deck. |
|
Also looking down from the top, but, this time, from the highest platform. |
|
View from beneath the Eiffel Tower |
Father Theodor Wulf in
1910 took observations of
radiant energy radiating at the top and bottom of the tower, discovering at the top more than was expected, and thereby detecting what are today known as
cosmic rays.
In
1925, the con artist
Victor Lustig twice "sold" the tower for scrap.
In
1930, the tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the
Chrysler Building was completed in
New York City.
From
1925 to
1934, illuminated signs for
Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest billboard in the world at the time.
Upon the
Nazi occupation of
Paris in
1940, the lift cables were cut by the French so that
Hitler would have to climb the steps to the summit. The parts to repair them were allegedly impossible to obtain because of
the war, though they were working again within hours of the
departure of the Nazis. Soldiers had to climb all the way to the top to hoist the
swastika from the top, but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later, and they had to go back up again with a smaller one. Hitler chose to stay on the ground. A Frenchman scaled the tower during the German occupation to hang the
French flag. In August
1944, when the
Allies were nearing Paris, Hitler ordered General
Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. He disobeyed the order.
On
3 January 1956, a fire damaged the top of the tower.
In
1959 the present radio antenna was added to the top.
In the
1980s an old restaurant and its supporting iron scaffolding midway up the tower was dismantled; it was purchased and reconstructed in
New Orleans, Louisiana, originally as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant, known more recently as the Red Room.
In
2000, flashing lights and four high-power
searchlights were installed on the tower. Since then the light show has become a nightly event. The searchlights on top of the tower make it a beacon in Paris' night sky.
The tower received its 200,000,000th guest on
28 November 2002.
At 7:20 p.m. on
22 July 2003, a fire occurred at the top of the tower in the
broadcasting equipment room. The entire tower was evacuated; the fire was extinguished after 40 minutes, and there were no reports of injuries.
The names of 72 French scientists and engineers are engraved on the tower in recognition of their contributions. This engraving was painted over at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in 1986 by
SNTE ("Société Nouvelle d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel"), the company contracted by the City of Paris to operate the tower.
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The Eiffel Tower is made from 18,038 pieces of puddled iron. |
Images of the tower have long been in the
public domain; however, in
2003 SNTE installed a new lighting display on the tower. The effect was to put any night-time image of the tower and it's lighting display under copyright. As a result, it was no longer legal to publish contemporary photographs of the tower at night without permission.
The imposition of copyright has been controversial. The Director of Documentation for SNTE, Stéphane Dieu, commented in January 2005, "It is really just a way to manage commercial use of the image, so that it isn't used in ways we don't approve." However, it also potentially has the effect of prohibiting tourist photographs of the tower at night from being published [
1] as well as hindering non profit and semi-commercial publication of images of the tower.
In a recent decision, the
Court of Cassation ruled that copyright could not be claimed over images including a copyrighted building if the photograph encompassed a larger area. This seems to indicate that SNTE cannot claim copyright on photographs of Paris incorporating the lit tower.
*
Satellite view of the Eiffel Tower (Google Maps)
*
Street map of the Eiffel Tower's location (GlobalGuide)
As a globally recognizeable landmark the Eiffel Tower is featured in many popular mediums including but not exclusively movie, videogames, and books.
Many
reproductions/
models of the tower (often smaller-
scale) exist.
Similar Towers (not scale models)
|
The Eiffel Tower Restaurant in Las Vegas, Nevada |
In order of decreasing height:
*
Kiev TV Tower,
Kiev,
Ukraine â€" At 385 m, the world's tallest lattice tower, with no observation deck for visitors.
*
Riga Radio and TV Tower,
Riga,
Latvia â€" 368.5 m concrete tower on three legs.
*
Dragon Tower,
Harbin â€" a 336 metre high lattice tower at Harbin, China.
*
Tokyo Tower,
Tokyo,
Japan â€" 9 m higher than the original (33 m if the TV antenna is included).
*
Yerevan TV Tower,
Yerevan,
Armenia â€" 311.7 m high lattice tower built from 1974 to 1977.
*
St. Petersburg TV Tower,
St. Petersburg,
Russia â€" 310 m lattice tower without observation deck.
*
Star Tower,
Cincinnati, Ohio â€" 291.4 m transmission tower, without observation deck.
*
Qingdao TV Tower,
China â€" 232 m TV tower with observation deck.
*
Crystal Palace Transmitter,
London,
England â€" 222 m
TV tower without observation deck, nicknamed London's Eiffel Tower.
*
Brasilia TV Tower,
Brasilia,
Brazil â€" 218 m lattice tower with an observation deck at a height of 75 m.
*
Guangzhou TV Tower,
Guangzhou,
China â€" A 217 metre high TV tower of lattice steel.
*
Guangdong TV Tower,
Guangdong,
China â€" A 200 metre high TV tower of lattice steel.
*
Nagoya TV Tower,
Nagoya,
Japan â€" 180 m
*
Odinstårnet,
Odense,
Denmark â€" A 177 metre high lattice tower, destroyed in 1944
* The Spire
The Arts Centre (Melbourne),
Melbourne Australia - built in 1996 at a height of 163m and is illuminated with roughly 6,600 metres (21,653 feet) of optic fibre tubing, 150 metres (492 feet) of neon tubing on the mast and 14,000 incandescent lamps on the spire's skirt. The metal webbing of the spire is also influenced by the billowing of a ballerina's tutu.
*
Blackpool Tower,
Blackpool,
England â€" 158 m (519 ft); it is not quite a free-standing structure as it stands above the Tower Circus complex, where the four "legs" can be seen.
*
Mesquite Tower,
Mesquite,
Texas â€" 155.3 m transmission tower, without observation deck.
*
Croydon Transmitter â€" A 152 metre high transmission tower in
London, without observation deck
*
Radio Tower Berlin,
Berlin,
Germany â€" 150 m
transmission tower with observation deck. Sometimes nicknamed as a copy of the Eiffel Tower, although the two structures are not too similar. The Radio Tower Berlin is the only observation tower whose feet are insulated from the ground.
*
Sapporo TV Tower,
Sapporo,
Japan â€" 147 m.
*
Beppu Tower,
Beppu,
Japan â€" 100 m, [
2].
*
Zendstation Zwollerkerspel â€" 90 m high radio tower.
*
Tour métallique de Fourvière,
Lyon,
France â€" 85.7 m
lattice tower built from 1892 to 1894. Used until 1953 as an observation tower, but is now a TV tower closed to visitors.
*
Torre del Reformador,
Guatemala City,
Guatemala â€" 75 m.
*
Brookmans Park Transmitter â€" two 60.96 metre high lattice towers, insulated against ground
*
PetÅ™Ãnská rozhledna,
Prague,
Czech Republic â€" 60 m, built in
1891.
*
Watkin's Tower,
Wembley Park,
London,
England â€" never completed, demolished in 1907.
*
Joseph's Cross,
Stollberg/
Harz,
Germany â€" 38 m observation tower in form of a double cross.
*
Lemberg Tower, Lemberg Mountain,
Germany â€" 33 m observation tower of lattice steel, built in
1899*
Tour du Belvédère â€" a small observation tower in Mulhouse, Alsace, France.
*
Woodwards Building,
Vancouver,
Canada â€" A small reproduction on the
roof of the building is topped by a signature neon "W". This building is being converted into social housing. [
3]
Reproductions
In order of decreasing height:
* In front of the
Paris Las Vegas hotel/casino on the
Las Vegas Strip,
Paradise, Nevada, near
Las Vegas, Nevada â€" 165 m (540 ft, scale 1:2). [
4]
*
Shenzhen,
China â€" ~100 m (~328 ft, scale 1:3)
*
Paramount's Kings Island,
Ohio â€" ~100 m (~328 ft, scale 1:3)
*
Paramount's Kings Dominion,
Virginia â€" 84 m (275 ft, scale 1:3.59)
*
Slobozia,
Romania â€" 54 m (177 ft)
* In Parizh,
Chelyabinsk Oblast,
Nagaybaksky District,
Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Built by South Ural Cell Telephone company as a cellphone tower. â€" 50 m (164 ft)
*
Fayetteville, North Carolina The Bordeaux Tower is about 150 feet featuring an elevator that takes people to the top for a small view.
*
Walt Disney World's
Epcot theme park in
Lake Buena Vista, Florida (at the France Pavilion in
World Showcase) â€" 23 m (76 ft, scale 1:13)
(information)*
Paris, Texas â€" 20 m (65 ft)
* As a
Meccano model, housed at the Technology Museum of Georgia (
Atlanta, Georgia). â€" 11 m (36 ft) [
5]
* On the roof of the catering company
Rungis Express in
Meckenheim,
Germany -(height unknown)
* Centerpiece of the
Falconcity of Wonders, a planned new development project in
Dubai.
UAE, featuring seven modern
wonders of the world (planned). [
6]
* Model in
Paris, Tennessee, about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall.
* Model on the roof of the Rue De Paris cafe in
Brisbane,
Australia â€" (roughly 12 m tall)
* Model in indoor theme park in Genting Highlands, Malaysia
Scale models
The
Heller company sells an unassembled 1:650 scale plastic model of the Tower under reference 81201; it is about 49 cm (19 inches) tall when assembled.
Paper scale model by Paperlandmarks is 36 cm (14 inches) tall when assembled.
*
RER:
Champs-de-Mars â€" Tour-Eiffel (C)
*
Frémy, Dominique,
Quid de la Tour Eiffel, Robert Lafont, Paris (1989) â€"
out of print*
World's tallest free standing structure on land*
Satellite view of Eiffel Tower at Wikimapia = Google maps + Wiki
*
Official website of the Eiffel Tower â€"
English version*
Eiffel Tower Travel Information *
Structurae: Eiffel Tower*
Mechanical Engineering Magazine: Deconstructing Eiffel*
7 Live Webcams of the Eiffel Tower*
Eiffel Tower at insecula.com (site in French)
*
Panoramic photo of the Eiffel Tower in
QuickTime VR format
*
Eiffel Tower Pictures*
Eiffel Tower from Space*
3D render of the Eiffel Tower for use in Google Earth*
Frommer's Review of the Eiffel Tower*
France, Paris, Trocadero Panorama from Trocadero with map and compass effect by Tolomeus
*
Large desktop wallpapers of the Eiffel Tower*
Photographs and Videos of the Eiffel Tower*
Pictures of the Eiffel Tower or views from the Eiffel Tower (German/English)
*
Info and Pictures*
The Eiffel Tower facts and photography
