EIFFEL TOWER PARIS
The
Eiffel Tower is located on the left bank of the
river Seine, at the extreme of the Parc du Champ
de Mars. The four pillars supporting the tower are
aligned to the points of the compass. The area of
the tower is in the seventh district of Paris, also
the home of the National Assembly, the Prime Minister’s
palace, and the Hotel des Invalides.
It was built in Paris by Gustave
Eiffel, a French engineer specialized in revolutionary
steel constructions, for the 1889 world exhibition.
The tower originally had no practical use. The intent
was just to demonstrate the capabilities of modern
engineering. A daring engineer's dream, the Eiffel
Tower weighs 7000 tons, but the pressure it applies
on the ground is only equivalent to that of a chair
with a man seated on it! Each one of the about 12,000
iron pieces were designed separately to give them
exactly the shape needed. All pieces were prefabricated
and fit together using approx. 7 million nails.
It caused a violent polemic, meeting nearly unanimous
hostility from the Parisian artistic world. Once
the Tower was finished the criticism burnt itself
out in the presence of the completed masterpiece,
and in the light of the enormous popular success
with which it was greeted. It received two million
visitors during the World's Fair of 1889.
At 300 meters, it remained the world highest building
until the construction of the Chrysler building
in New York City in 1929. Now 320 m. high with its
television antennas, it still incredibly towers
above Paris, a city almost free from skyscrapers.
Open air elevators bring visitors up to the first
(57m. high), the second (115m. high) and the third
level (276m. high). Each one provides different
and interesting views of Paris and the surrounding
Ile de France region.
On the Ground: The machinery of the 1899 elevator.
Every visitor with a ticket to visit the monument
can watch the machinery of the corresponding elevator
in operation in the East and West pillars. This
voyage underground, in an atmosphere which evokes
Jules Verne, lets the visitors discover the imposing
hydraulic machines designed by Gustave Eiffel. This
machinery is still used after being restored and
computerized.
Consistently modern, the Tower makes a special effort
to surprise visitors. Do not miss the latest futurist,
interactive attraction — the Eiffel Tower Visitors
Galaxy — where you take part in the construction
of a virtual Tower. In conjunction with the Caisse
Nationale des Monuments Historiques et des Sites,
the Tower offers groups a series of conference tours,
highlighting the history of the monument in its
time, its contribution to modern metal architecture,
and all the scientific and technical applications
experimented on the Tower.
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