Current height (including antennas): 324 m
The deepest foundations: (North and West) lie 15 meters underground. In each of these foundations, four pillars of masonry are built, which bear the four uprights of each leg of the Tower,known as rafters.
Total weight: 10,100 tons
Weight of the iron structure: 7,300 tons
Space between the pillars:
1st platform: 4,415 m2
2nd inner platform: 1,430 m2
3rd inner platform: 250 m2
Height of the platforms:
1st platform: 57 m
2nd inner platform: 115 m
3rd inner platform: 276 m
Lighting: 336 600-W projector lamps (sodium lamps).
Number of bulbs for the Sparkling Tower: 20,000
Number of steps in the East pillar to the top: 1,665
Number of rivets (total): 2,500,000
Weight of paint used: 60 tons for each repainting campaign
Time required for painting: the Eiffel Tower was repainted in its entirety every seven years.
Number of elevators: From the ground to the second floor: 5 (one in the East pillar, one in the West pillar, one in the North pillar, one private elevator in the South pillar for the “Jules Verne” restaurant and one goods elevator in the South pillar). From the second floor to the top: two sets of two duolifts.
Elevator speed: 2 meters/second.
Passenger flow and capacity of the elevators
North pillar: 920 persons/hour
East pillar: 650 persons/hour
West pillar: 650 persons/hour
Duolifts: 1,140 persons/hour
Jules Verne: 10 persons/ascent
Goods elevator in the South pillar: 30 persons or 4 tons/ascent
Number of persons working on the Tower:
SNTE: 280
Restaurants: 240
Souvenirs: 50
Other: around 50
Number of analogical TV stations: 6
Number of free digital TV stations: 30
Number of radio stations: 31
Number of antennas: 120
One century after the French Revolution, France was booming in the scientific, cultural and artistic fields. This was the golden age of Freud, Zola, Jules Verne and Rodin. For the Universal Exhibition of 1889, a date that marked the centenary of the French Revolution, the Journal Officiel launched a major competition to “study the possibility of erecting an iron tower on the Champ-de-Mars. The tower would have a square base, 125 metres on each side and 300 meters high”. The project proposal by entrepreneur Gustave Eiffel, engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier and architect Stephen Sauvestre was chosen out of a total of 107.The Eiffel Tower s a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built as the entrance arch for the 1889 World's Fair..
The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend either on stair orlift to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by lift. Both the first and second levels feature restaurants.
The EIiffel tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world. The Eiffel Tower is open 365 days a year. So that nearly 7 million visitors can be welcomed in the best conditions, operations behind the scenes resemble those in a well-oiled industrial plant. In 2003, the Tower celebrated the fact that it has welcomed over 200 million visitors in 114 years. Royalty, stars, tourists, international celebrities, strollers – these Eiffel Tower citizens” all form part of the history of one of the capital’s most astounding jewels.
As with the Pyramids, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Acropolis, the Coliseum and the Statue of
Liberty, the Eiffel Tower stirs the curiosity and evokes admiration.
Since 1998, over 6 million people have visited the monument each year!
The history behind the Eiffel Tower restaurants is inseparable from the “Great Moments”in history from the monument’s opening to the public in 1889. The Tower offers its visitorsbreathtaking seating overlooking Paris: a delight for the eyes and the taste buds.The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor 311 ft (95 m) above sea level; and theJules Verne, an expensive gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a private lift. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007, the multi-Michelin star chefAlain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne
The Eiffel Tower has inspired numerous sporting, artistic and scientific feats, but has also been
witness to some incredible stunts and challenges. Its history is full of feats and exploits. Ex. Le Figaro sets up a printing press on the second floor and produces its daily paper on site. Visitors buying their newspaper can have their name inscribed on their copy to “certify” that they climbed the Tower. & A.J. Hackett, a New Zealander, bungy-jumps from the second floor.
“EIFFWL TOWER”SUBJECT OF CONTROVERSY- :
As is the case with many major architectural projects that today constitute part of France’s cultural heritage, the Tower has suffered the slings and arrows of detractors. Protest well predates the construction of such controversial structures as the Pompidou Center and the Louvre Pyramid. But time alone always proves the final judge – and in the case of the Eiffel
Tower, the verdict has already been rendered. During construction, several personalities protested violently. On February 14, 1887 Le Temps published a manifesto signed by “personalities from the world of arts and letters”* railing against the construction of a 300- meter tower on the Champs de Mars esplanade. Gustave Eiffel fought tooth and nail for his project, but the temperature of the heated debate just kept rising. A number of persons did
later change their views and make amends. Sully Prudhomme, for example, expressed his admiration as early as 1889. Coppée waxed lyrical on the subject, and the Tower inspired Gounod to write a little “concerto in the clouds”.
Since the opening of the Eiffel Tower for the Universal Exhibition of 1889, visitors have been able to visit the different floors of the monument via elevators
Why the Eiffel Tower is made of iron
What are the advantages of iron? Gustave Eiffel himself gives the answer: “First of all, its resistance. From the viewpoint of loads one or the other of these materials can support, we know
that for any given surface area, iron is ten times more resistant than wood and 20 times more resistant than stone.” He points out: “It’s above all in the large constructions that the metal’s
resistance makes it superior to other materials. The relative lightness of metal constructions also allows for smaller supports and foundations.” And he concludes: “To give just one example, that of the Exhibition Tower, I astonished more than one person who was worried about the load on the floor of the foundations, by saying that the load wouldn’t be any greater than that of a
house in Paris.”
The scientific experiments
The day after the Tower was inaugurated, Gustave Eiffel installed a meteorology lab on the third floor. He also had a passion for aerodynamics and performed a series of observations on falling
bodies (dedicated equipment was installed from 1903 to 1905). He then imagined “an automatic device sliding the length of a stretched cable between the second level of the Tower and the
ground”. He had a small wind tunnel built at the foot of the tower. From August to December 1909 he carried out five thousand tests. In addition, Gustave Eiffel encouraged others to perform experiments on the Tower: Foucault’s pendulum, the mercury manometer, physiology studies and radio contact (1898).
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the tower has been used for radio transmission. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. They were connected to long-wave transmitters in small bunkers; in 1909, a permanent underground radio centre was built near the south pillar and still exists today. On 20 November 1913, the Paris Observatory, using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, exchanged sustained wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory which used an antenna inArlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, D.C.[46] Today, both radio and television stations broadcast their signals from the top of the Eiffel.
Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. n order to maintain a uniform appearance to an observer on the ground, three separate colors of paint are used on the tower, with the darkest on the bottom and the lightest at the top. On occasion the colour of the paint is changed; the tower is currently painted a shade of brownish-grey. On the first floor there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of painting. Currently, the color on display is a specific three-tone variation of bronze, with the lightest tone at the top. It was adopted in 1968 after several color changes ranging from the original reddishbrown to ocher-yellow. The three different shades today ensure a perfectly hued complement to the color of the Paris sky.
Weight of paint: approximately 60 tons
• Time required: 15 to 18 months
• Frequency required: the Tower is entirely re-painted every
7 years. The 19th painting is scheduled to begin autumn 2008 and
finish at the beginning of the year 2010.
• 25 painters
• Cost of the 18th painting in 2001: 3 million euros
FOR MORE INFORMATION -: http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/
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