The Eiffel Tower (Tour Eiffel)is an iron tower
built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower
has become a global icon of France and is one of the most recognizable
structures in the world.
INTRODUCTION
Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel
Tower is the tallest building in Paris. More than 200,000,000 have visited
the tower since its construction in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006,[3]
making it the most visited paid monument in the world. Including the
24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 325 m (1,063 ft) high (since
2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.
When
the tower was completed in 1889 it was the world's tallest tower —
a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building
(319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed.[6] The tower is now the
fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris,
with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m — 689
ft), although that will soon be surpassed by Tour AXA (225.11 m —
738.36 ft).
The
metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire
structure including non-metal components is approximately 10,000 tonnes.
Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift
away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) because of thermal expansion
of the metal on the side facing the sun. The tower also sways 6–7
cm (2–3 in) in the wind. As demonstration of the economy of design,
if the 7300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would
fill the 125 meter square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in), assuming
a density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic meter. The tower has
a mass less than the mass of the air contained in a cylinder of the
same dimensions, that is 324 meters high and 88.3 meters in radius.
The weight of the tower is 10,100 tonnes compared to 10,265 tonnes of
air.
TOUR
EIFFEL
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The
first and second levels are accessible by stairways and lifts. A ticket
booth at the south tower base sells tickets to access the stairs which
begin at that location. At the first platform the stairs continue up
from the east tower and the third level summit is only accessible by
lift. From the first or second platform the stairs are open for anyone
to ascend or descend regardless of whether they have purchased a lift
ticket or stair ticket. The actual count of stairs includes 9 steps
to the ticket booth at the base, 328 steps to the first level, 340 steps
to the second level and 18 steps to the lift platform on the second
level. When exiting the lift at the third level there are 15 more steps
to ascend to the upper observation platform. The step count is printed
periodically on the side of the stairs to give an indication of progress
of ascent. The majority of the ascent allows for an unhindered view
of the area directly beneath and around the tower although some short
stretches of the stairway are enclosed.
Maintenance
of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven
years to protect it from rust. In order to maintain a uniform appearance
to an observer on the ground, three separate colors of paint are used
on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the
top. On occasion the colour of the paint is changed; the tower is currently
painted a shade of brownish-grey. On the first floor there are interactive
consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of
painting. The co-architects of the Eiffel Tower are Emile Nouguier,
Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre.
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. Eiffel originally planned to build the tower
in Barcelona, for the Universal Exposition of 1888, but those responsible
at the Barcelona city hall thought it was a strange and expensive construction,
which did not fit into the design of the city. After the refusal of
the Consistory of Barcelona, Eiffel submitted his draft to those responsible
for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he would build his tower
a year later, in 1889. The tower was inaugurated on March 31, 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 two 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.
However, because Eiffel took safety precautions, including the use of
movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died.
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Eiffel
Tower under construction in July 1888. |
The
tower was met with much criticismfrom 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.”[10] Signers of this letter
included Messonier, Gounod, Garnier, Gerome, Bougeureau, and 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 you couldn't see the Tower. Today, it 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,
meaning it would have had 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 expiration of the permit.
The military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during
the First Battle of the Marne, and it therefore became a victory statue
of that battle.
SHAPE
OF THE TOWER
At
the time the tower was built many people were shocked by its daring
shape. Eiffel was criticised for the design and accused of trying to
create something artistic, or inartistic according to the viewer, without
regard to engineering. Eiffel and his engineers, as renowned bridge
builders however, understood the importance of wind forces and knew
that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world
they had to be certain it would withstand the wind. In an interview
reported in the newspaper Le Temps, Eiffel said:
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Looking
up at the Eiffel Tower.
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“
Now to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the Tower?
It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the
monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated
it should be (...) will give a great impression of strength and beauty,
for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design
as a whole. ”
—translated from the French newspaper Le Temps of February 14,
1887
The shape
of the tower was therefore determined by mathematical calculation involving
wind resistance. Several theories of this mathematical calculation have
been proposed over the years, the most recent is a nonlinear integral
differential equation based on counterbalancing the wind pressure on
any point on the tower with the tension between the construction elements
at that point. That shape is exponential. A careful plot of the tower
curvature however, reveals two different exponentials, the lower section
having a stronger resistance to wind forces
INSTALLATIONS
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 centre was built near the south
pillar and still exists today.[citation needed] On November 20, 1913,
the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, exchanged
sustained wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory
which used an antenna in Arlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions
was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington,
D.C.
The
tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m, 311
ft, above sea level); and the Jules Verne, an expensive gastronomical
restaurant on the second floor, with a private lift. This restaurant
has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007, a new multi-Michelin
star chef Alain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne.
The
uppermost observation deck, with a height of 275 metres, is the highest
area of an architectural structure in the European Union open for the
public.[citation needed]
The
passenger lifts from ground level to the first level are operated by
cables and pulleys driven by massive water-powered pistons. As they
ascend the inclined arc of the legs, the elevator cabins tilt slightly,
but with a slight jolt every few seconds, in order to keep the floor
nearly level.[citation needed] The elevator works are on display and
open to the public in a small museum located in one of the four tower
bases,
EVENTS
On September 10, 1889, Thomas Edison
visited the tower. He signed the guestbook with the following message—
“ To M Eiffel the Engineer the brave builder of so gigantic and
original specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest
respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer
the Bon Dieu, Thomas Edison. ”
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.
On February 4, 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping
60 metres from the first deck of Eiffel tower with his home-made parachute.
In 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the tower for
scrap metal.
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 advertising space in
the world at the time.
Upon the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut
by the French so that Adolf Hitler would have to climb the steps to
the summit. The parts to repair them were allegedly impossible to obtain
because of the war. In 1940 German soldiers had to climb to the top
to hoist the swastika, but the flag was so large it blew away just a
few hours later, and it was replaced by a smaller one. When visiting
Paris, Hitler chose to stay on the ground. It was said that Hitler conquered
France, but did not conquer the Eiffel Tower. 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. Von Choltitz disobeyed the order. The
lifts of the Tower were working normally within hours of the Liberation
of Paris.
On January 3, 1956, a fire damaged the top of the tower.
In 1957, 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
on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, by entrepreneurs John
Onorio and Daniel Bonnot, originally as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant,
known more recently as the Red Room. The restaurant was re-assembled
from 11,000 pieces that crossed the Atlantic in a 40-foot (12 m) cargo
container.
On March 31, 1984, Robert Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza through
the arches of the tower.
In 1985's James Bond action/adventure film A View to a Kill, Sir Roger
Moore as James Bond chases May Day played by actress Grace Jones up
the Eiffel Tower. She parachutes from the structure to escape. The video
of the film's theme tune, performed by the group Duran Duran, also included
several scenes of the band staged on the tower intercut with clips from
the film. A full 20 years earlier, the Bond film Thunderball (1965)
featured an establishing shot of the tower as the villainous Largo,
played by Adolfo Celi, parks outside the headquarters of SPECTRE in
Paris.
On July 14 1995, Bastille Day, French synthesiser musician Jean Michel
Jarre performed Concert For Tolerance at the tower in aid of UNESCO.
The free concert was attended by an estimated 1.5 million people, filling
the Champ-de-Mars. The concert featured lighting and projection effects
on the tower, and a huge firework display throughout. Exactly 3 years
later, he returned to the same spot for a more dance music orientated
show, Electronic Night.
On New Year's Eve 1999, the Eiffel Tower played host to Paris' Millennium
Celebration. Fireworks exploded from the whole length of the tower in
a spectacular display. An exhibition above a cafeteria on the first
floor commemorates this event.
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 of all-time in 2002.
At 19:20 on July 22, 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.
Since 2004, the Eiffel Tower has hosted an ice skating rink on the first
floor during the winter period.
At the start of the French Presidency of the European Union in the second
half of 2008, the twelve golden stars of the European Flag were mounted
on the base, and whole tower bathed in blue light.
SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
