Posted on March 31st, 2008 by admin

The Eiffel Tower has long been, and still is, the great landmark of Paris.Despite oft-repeated doubts as to its stability, the Eiffel Tower celebrates its 110th birthday in 1999. In 1932 it lost its title as the world’s highest man-made structure to the Empire State Building in NewYork ( title now hold by the CN Building in Toronto with a height of 553.35m/1815ft).

The Eiffel Tower, showpiece of the 1889 International Exhibition

Standing 307m/1007ft high (320.75m/1052ft to the tip of the aerial), the tower consists of 15,000 steel sections held together by 2′/,million rivets. Eiffel designed the tower in such a way that even under extreme wind pressure the structural weight is sufficient to prevent it from being blown over. Moreover the lattice construction reduced the pressure on the structure by about half, thus giving a double insurance against collapse. Originally the structure’s total weight of 7500 tons was distributed in such a way that at ground level the pressure exerted was only 4 kilograms per sq. centimetre (57 lb per sq. inch), roughly the pressure exerted by a normal-sized adult on the seat of a chair. As individual sections are not replaced by a similar section but by a heavier concrete section, however, the total weight has increased to 11,000 tons. In the course of the recent renovation in 1996 many concrete sections were replaced by steel plates.

When the tower was being built there were vigorous public protests, and the construction company was obliged to give an undertaking to meet any claims for damage in the event of the tower collapsing on to surrounding buildings. Thanks to the double safeguards in the structure this has not happened, and the “cleaning-up” during the restoration work of the 1980s and 1990s has still further increased the security of the tower.

Since the recent modernisation the top platform, at a height of 274m/900ft (orientation table), can be reached by lift. From this platform there are panoramic views extending in fine weather for some 70km/45 miles. The views from the first and second platforms, at 57m/187ft and 112m/367ft, are less extensive but have the advantage that surrounding districts of the city can be seen in more detail. At these levels there are restaurants, a post office (with a special franking, “Tour Eiffel”) and a cinema, with an audiovisual show on the history of the Eiffel Tower. After dark the tower is impressively illuminated.
In spite of the controversy which it engendered in its early days, the Eiffel Tower has inspired numerous artists, including Signac, Seurat, Dauzat, Dufy, Utrillo, Chagall, Legrand and Robert Delaunay, who sought in a whole series of oil paintings to capture the dynamic of the tower’s filigree-like structure.

Location
QuaiBranly (17th arr)
Metro stations Ecole Militoiro, Bit Hake, Trocadero

RER station
Champ de Mar Tour Eiffel

Opening times daily
9.30am-11pm (lift)
8.30am-6.30pm (stairs)

Tags: Eiffel, Eiffel Tower, Paris, The Magicion Iron, Tour Eiffel