Pictures of the Eiffel Tower

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Fun and unusual facts

• The Eiffel tower weighs less than air taking up the same volume
• Because of the expansion of metal, the tower can actually bend up to 18 cm
• The entire structure is approximately 10,000 tonnes
• The structure is designed as it is to minimize the impact of wind resistance
• Occasionally the maintainers of the tower change the paint color
• Approximately 60 tons of paint and a time period of 15 to 18 months is required to paint the Eiffel Tower.
• The tower is currently used for radio and television transmission
• The tallest structure in the world until 1930, when the Chrysler building in New York City was completed
• Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be dismantled and sold as scrap 20 years after its construction, but this never happened
• There is an ice skating rink on the first floor during winter!

The Tower itself

The Eiffel Tower is located on the Champ de Mars in Paris.  It is known throughout the world as representing France, and it is the most visited paid monument in the world.  It was built for the 1889 World’s Fair.

The 324 meter high tower was designed for wind considerations rather than aesthetics, although in its day the tower was criticized for trying to be artistic.

Over 200 million people have visited the tower since 1889, which makes it the most visited paid monument in the world.  The lifts have been altered several times to keep the structure modern – it was initially powered by hydraulic cylinders.

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel

Alexandre Eiffel was born December 15th, 1832, and he would go on to design France's most recognized symbol, the Eiffel tower. In his early years, his niche was surprisingly history and literature, rather than the expected engineering. He was denied admittance to the Ecole Polytechnique, and so instead went to Ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris where he graduated with a degree in chemistry. He then began work as a railway bridge designer, and from there he built a formidable reputation.

Eiffel's construction company, Eiffel et Cie., designed and built numerous projects, chief among them La Ruche, le Ponte Maria Pia, railway bridges, a failed French attempt at the Panama Canal, and, of course, the Eiffel tower.