History of Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower History and Facts: When and Why was Eiffel Tower Built

Eiffel Tower, the tallest building in Paris, is one of the most visited sites in the entire world. At night, the magnificently illuminated Eiffel Tower is sure to mesmerize you, as it does all visitors. Here is the history and facts about the Eiffel Tower.

Eiffel Tower is one of the most enchanting and renowned buildings in the world. It stands serenely on the Champ de Mars, on the southern bank of River Seine, in Paris. The Eiffel Tower is named after its designer and engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), a genius in his field of work.

History of the Eiffel Tower

300 workers worked for two years to erect this monument. Eiffel Tower has a lattice work structure made using wrought iron of the finest quality. Maurice Koechlin, Emile Nouguier and Stephen Sauvestre were the engineers and architect, respectively, who helped Alexandre Gustave Eiffel in the design and construction. The design of the unique shape of the Eiffel Tower was based on mathematical calculations involving wind resistance. It is like an assembled set of numerous iron pieces. These pieces were first prepared in Gustave Eiffel's factory. It took five months to build the foundation of the tower. Special cranes were used to lift the iron pieces higher to build the tower.

Why was Eiffel Tower built?

The World's Fair was to be held in 1889, in Paris. It was also the centenary year of the beginning of the French Revolution (1789). The fair exhibited machines and war material among the other things. The Eiffel Tower was the main symbol of the fair. It was originally built as an entrance arch for the fair. Numerous design proposals were received, but Gustave Eiffel's design was selected unanimously.

When was Eiffel Tower built?

The construction of the tower, which began in January 1887, came to an end in 1889; after two years, two months and five days. The Eiffel Tower was officially opened on 31st March, 1889, by the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII of England).

On its completion, the French flag was unfurled at the top of Eiffel Tower. The World's Fair was a great success and the Eiffel Tower became a major attraction. The tower was originally under a 20-year lease in Paris and it was to be dismantled after the expiry of the lease. But, it was found to be useful for telegraphy; hence, it was retained. Today, it is France's prized possession!

In the Battle of Marne, during the First World War, Parisian taxi cabs were dispatched from the Eiffel Tower. These cabs were used to transport French infantry troops to the battlefield. The Battle of Marne proved to be the first French-British victory against Germans. Therefore, Eiffel Tower is also considered a symbol of victory.

Eiffel Tower Facts

• The Eiffel Tower is a little more than 300 mt high (approx. 1060 ft) and weighs 7000 tons.
• The base of Eiffel Tower is 412 sq. ft wide. It has 1665 steps and three platforms or floors. There are lifts to carry people to the highest point.
• Construction of the Eiffel Tower cost 7,800,800 gold francs.
• The Eiffel Tower sways in the wind. The maximum sway recorded is 12 cm.
• The tower is painted every seven years, using 50 tons of paint, to prevent it from rust. Therefore, the shades of the tower differ. Dark brown is the most used shade.
• Names of 72 French scientists, engineers and noted men including Ampere, Gay-Lussac, Tresca, Laplace and Sauvage to name a few, are carved on the tower.
• After its construction, Eiffel Tower was strongly criticized by many noted people from the arts society. It was considered ugly and detestable.
• Guy de Maupassant, famous French novelist, hated the tower. He daily had lunch in one of the restaurants on the tower, as according to him, it was the only place in Paris, from where the tower could not be viewed.
• Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in entire world, until 1930, when the Chrysler building, which was taller, was built in the US.
• The cables of the lifts were cut, when the Germans invaded Paris, during the Second World War, as the French did not wish Hitler to mount Eiffel Tower. The cables were replaced immediately after France was liberated.
• The tower came to be used for radio and television transmission. In 1957, a radio antenna, which is presently in use, was added to the tower. It is also used as meteorological recording station.
• There are some shops and two expensive restaurants, Altitude 95 and Jules Verne, on the Eiffel Tower.
• On a clear weather day, one can see up to 40 miles, from the top of the tower.

Eiffel Tower is owned by Paris city. It is visited by millions of people, every year. The enthralling Eiffel Tower is a symbol of the beauty of France.

The Eiffel Tower, Paris, 1889 

Eiffel Tower seen from the Trocadero Palace by: Gall Date unknown jpg:: allposters    Eiffel's interior iron framework  for the Statue of LibertyNatasha  Luis Jiménez ArandaSpanish (1845-1928)A Lady at the Paris Exposition          View of The River Seinejpg:: allposters   Notre Dame Natasha   The Arc de Triomphe Sainte Chapelle   Tour Saint-Jacques The dome of Les Invalides  Eiffel Tower Iron work Jpg: - Ducatez JPDB -

The Eiffel Tower, 1889 The Eiffel Tower was designed by the French engineer and bridge builder Alexandre Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) for the Paris Exposition of 1889. The tower is 300 m (984 ft) high and consists of an open iron framework making it the highest manmade structure in the world at the time. It was the largest attraction at the Exposition and today it remains the most recognized structure in all of Europe. It was nearly never built.  After being awarded the contract to build the tower, Eiffel discovered that the Exposition Committee would only grant about a fourth of the monies needed to construct it. Eiffel himself would have to finance the balance. He struck a deal that would make him a very rich man. He agreed to independently find the funders for his tower but he wanted sole control of the tower and its profits for twenty years. They agreed. In a surprise to everyone, including Eiffel, the tower was paid off in the first year. The deal that Eiffle hammered out is probably what saved the tower from destruction. Many in the arts and civic leaders felt the tower was an abomination. "They have only erected the framework of this monument, It has no skin" The whole idea that iron -- just iron -- could be beautiful, flew in the face of architectural history. Everyone knew that the great cathedrals and palaces had all been built of stone with the careful craft of ornamentation which adorned them. Sure, iron can play a part in an unseen, underlying structure such had been done with the Statue of Liberty, but to leave it exposed was just poor taste. It was like showing your dirty laundry. A Committee of Three Hundred was formed and they petitioned for its demise: Honored compatriot, we come, writers, painters, sculptors, architects, passionate lovers of the beauty of Paris -- a beauty until now unspoiled -- to protest with all our might, with all our outrage, in the name of slighted French taste, in the name of threatened French art and history, against the erection, in the heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower. Are we going to allow all this beauty and tradition to be profaned? Is Paris now to be associated with the grotesque and mercantile imagination of a machine builder, to be defaced and disgraced? Even the commercial Americans would not want this Eiffel Tower which is, without any doubt, a dishonor to Paris. We all know this, everyone says it, everyone is deeply troubled by it. We, the Committee, are but a faint echo of universal sentiment, which is so legitimately outraged. When foreign visitors come to our universal exposition, they will cry out in astonishment," What!? Is this the atrocity that the French present to us as the representative of their vaunted national taste?" And they will be right to laugh at us, because the Paris of the sublime Gothic, the Paris of Jean Goujon, of Germain Pilon, Puget, Rude, Barye, etc. will have become the Paris of Monsieur Eiffel. Listen to our plea! Imagine now a ridiculous tall tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black factory smokestack, crushing with its barbaric mass Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle, the  Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the dome of Les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all our humiliated monuments, all our dwarfed architecture, which will be annihilated by Eiffel's hideous fantasy. For twenty years, over the city of Paris still vibrant with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see, spreading out like a blot of ink, the shadow of this disgusting column of bolted tin.9 It may have taken every bit of those twenty years to change some people's minds. All of the other iron buildings built for the Exposition were torn down shortly after (a shame). Today we look upon  Eiffel's tower as anything but hideous. Mary Louis King calls it "a monument to nineteenth century architectural engineering and a frank display of structure and material."  Although built of iron, it is an inherently inferior material and a single beam is unable to withstand large stresses. That is why the tower appears over engineered by today's standards. Though, from this very weakness its' simple beauty is found. If you look at the tower, the tight lattice work of beams sort of mimic the biological cellular structure of a plant.  In 1855, Sir Henry Bessmer discovered a process of converting iron into steel thereby making it much stronger and lighter, but the evolution from invention to practical use and mass production took many years. Steel would eventually replace iron and would bring the "sky scraper" to the city skylines of America and in 1885 (actually four years prior to the Eiffel's tower), William LeBaron Jenney built the Home Insurance Building in Chicago -- the first sky scraper. (Mary Louis King, "A History of Western Architecture" pp.175-195)       Official Eiffel Tower Web Site Years Built: 1887-1889 for 1889 Universal Exhibition and Centennial of the French Revolution Engineers : Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier Architect : Stephen Sauvestre Contractor : Gustave Eiffel Occasion for Construction:  1889 Universal Exhibition  Construction Period: 23 January 1887 to March 1889 (2years,2months,5days) Tower inaugurated: March 31, 1889 Number of Iron Workers: 300  Number of Workers Killed during Construction: 1 Rivets: 2,500,000 Iron pieces: 18,038  Height: 300.51 meters (986 feet) (+/- 15 cm depending on temperature)      1st level -  57 meters      2nd level - 115 meters      3rd level - 276 meters Height including television antenna: 320.755 meters (1052 feet) Weight: 7,000 tons (1,000 tons removed during 1990's renovation)  Base: 412 feet square, although also noted as about 2.5 acres Foundation Pressure: 58.26 to 64 psi (9000 psf) Paint: 50 tons every 7 years Paint Color: Dark Brown Steps to Top: 1789 (Birnbaum), 1671 (Joseph Harriss), 1652 (others) (Eiffle Tower Facts)