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Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is one of France’s greatest and most famous landmarks. Paris’ tallest building, the landmark has attracted more than 200 million visitors since 1889, earning it the title of the most visited paid monument in the entire world. It’s located on the left bank of the Seine River in Paris, France.
The Tower is 1,063 feet high, equal to 81 levels in a typical building. Its metal components weigh 7,300 tons, and the nonmetal pieces weigh 10,000 tons. At the time of its completion, France took pride in the fact that it was the world’s tallest building. It wasn’t until 1930 when the Chrysler Building was completed that it lost that title. Interestingly, the Chrysler Building was purposely constructed to be taller than the Eiffel Tower, but when the tower added a larger transmission tower on top, it technically became taller than the Chrysler Building again. Currently, the Eiffel Tower is the fifth-tallest building in France.
The Tower took 18,038 pieces of iron and three hundred workers to construct. Contrary to popular belief, the tower is not built out of steel. Construction started on January 26, 1887 and was completed on March 31, 1889, meaning it took two years, two months and five days. The foundation itself took over five months to complete. It was constructed as a “theme piece” and entrance for the Exposition Universelle, or World’s Fair, which was a festival celebrating the French Revolution. The Eiffel Tower was designed by Gustave Eiffel, Émile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin, Stephen Sauvestre, Jean Compagnon, and Adolphe Salles. At the time of its construction, it cost 9 million francs to build.
At one point, the Tower was even in danger of being torn down. This happened after ownership switched over from the Exposition to the city of Paris when many people moved to have it torn down and sold for scrap metal. However, the plan changed when Paris’ military discovered that its size and shape made it a great antenna for the newly-developed radio technology. As time went on, talk of tearing it down went away, and it remains today. In fact, since the beginning of the 20th century, the tower has been used for communication purposes. First, a set of modified antenna wires ran through the tower, and in 1990, a permanent radio center was constructed near the south pillar. In 1913, it was used as a transmitter for the Paris Observatory to exchange wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory in Arlington, Virginia.
The Eiffel Tower was important at the time of its construction because it was a symbol of France’s might. Its builders even admitted that it was built to shock the world with both its size and its unique shape. These days, the Tower is used mainly as a tourist attraction. In fact, many modifications were made to the Tower to accommodate its status as a huge tourist attraction.
Passenger elevators have always been in the tower, but since then, restaurants have moved into the tower itself as well. Many big events are held there and access to the Tower costs money. Once tourists pay the access fee, they are free to climb the tower, and take in the sights from the top.