The Eiffel Towercompleted 1889 |
The
structure was built from 1887 to 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition
Universelle (1889), a World's fair marking the centennial celebration
of the French revolution. It was inaugurated on March 31, 1889, and opened
on May 6. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of puddled
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. 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) -- which was remarkable at the
time.
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The tower is 300 meters (986 feet) tall, not including the 24-meter television antenna on top. The metal structure weighs in at 7,300 metric tons (the total weight is 10,100 metric tons). It was the world's tallest structure for 40 years. According to the official website for the tower, the summit is reached by 1,665 steps and not, as popularly believed, by 1,792 steps (the same as the year of the First French Republic).
Maintenance
on the tower includes applying 50 metric tons of three graded tones of
paint every 7 years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the color of
the paint is changed. The tower is currently painted to a shade of brown.
On the first floor, there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for
the color to use for a future session of painting. Depending on the ambient
temperature, the top of the Eiffel Tower will shift away from the sun
by eight centimetres because of expansion of the sun-warmed metal.
The tower was met with resistance from the public when it was first built, since many thought it would be an eyesore. Today, it is widely considered to be one of the most striking pieces of architectural art in the world.
One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the Eiffel Tower. In reality, one can be a few hundred meters away from the tower and unable to see it.
Originally, Eiffel had a permit to leave the tower standing for 20 years, more than recouping his expenses, but, as it proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to stay after the end of the permit.