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La Tour Eiffel
Tour Eiffel Wikimedia Commons.jpg
The Eiffel Tower as seen from the Champ de Mars
Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest building from 1889 to 1930.[I]
Location Paris, France
Coordinates 48°51′30″N 2°17′40″E / 48.8583°N 2.2945°E / 48.8583; 2.2945Coordinates: 48°51′30″N 2°17′40″E / 48.8583°N 2.2945°E / 48.8583; 2.2945
Opening March 31, 1889
Use Observation tower,
Radio broadcasting tower
Antenna or spire 324.00 m (1,063 ft)
Roof 300.65 m (986 ft)
Top floor 273.00 m (896 ft)
Floor count 3
Architect(s) Stephen Sauvestre
Structural engineer Maurice Koechlin,
Contractor Gustave Eiffel & Cie
Owner France City of Paris, France (100%)
Management Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE)
^ Fully habitable, self-supported, from main entrance to highest structural or architectural top; see the list of tallest buildings in the world for other listings.
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.
* 1 History
o 1.1 Timeline of events
o 1.2 Engraved names
* 2 Design of the tower
o 2.1 Material
o 2.2 Wind considerations
o 2.3 Maintenance
o 2.4 Aesthetic considerations
* 3 Tourism
o 3.1 Popularity
o 3.2 Passenger Elevators
+ 3.2.1 Ground to the second level
+ 3.2.2 Second to the third level
o 3.3 Restaurants
* 4 Attempted Relocation
* 5 Reproductions
* 6 Communications
o 6.1 FM-radio
o 6.2 Television
* 7 Image copyright claims
* 8 In popular culture
* 9 Taller structures
o 9.1 Lattice towers taller than the Eiffel Tower
o 9.2 Architectural structures in France taller than the Eiffel Tower
* 10 Other structures carrying this name
* 11 Gallery
* 12 See also
* 13 References
* 14 Further reading
* 15 External links
Eiffel Tower under construction in July 1888
Eiffel Tower Construction view: girders at the first story
Vue Lumière No 992 - Panorama pendant l'ascension de la Tour Eiffel (1898).ogv
Panoramic view during ascension of the Eiffel Tower by the Lumière brothers, 1898
25 August 1944: American soldiers watch as the Tricolor flies from the Eiffel Tower again.
A video of the jump
Franz Reichelt's preparations and fall from the Eiffel Tower.
Lightning strikes the Eiffel Tower on June 3, 1902, at 9:20 P.M.
Adolf Hitler with the Eiffel Tower in the background
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.
Timeline of events
10 September 1889