The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris. More than 200,000,000 have visited the tower since its construction in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006, making it the most visited paid monument in the world. Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 325 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.

When the tower was completed in 1889 it was the world's tallest tower — a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed. The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m — 689 ft), although that will soon be surpassed by Tour AXA (225.11 m — 738.36 ft).

The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes while the entire structure including non-metal components is approximately 10,000 tonnes. Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the tower may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) because of thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun. The tower also sways 6–7 cm (2–3 in) in the wind. As demonstration of the economy of design, if the 7300 tonnes of the metal structure were melted down it would fill the 125 meter square base to a depth of only 6 cm (2.36 in), assuming a density of the metal to be 7.8 tonnes per cubic meter. The tower has a mass less than the mass of the air contained in a cylinder of the same dimensions that is 324 meters high and 88.3 meters in radius. The weight of the tower is 10,100 tonnes compared to 10,265 tonnes of air.

The first and second levels are accessible by stairways and lifts. A ticket booth at the south tower base sells tickets to access the stairs which begin at that location. At the first platform the stairs continue up from the east tower and the third level summit is only accessible by lift. From the first or second platform the stairs are open for anyone to ascend or descend regardless of whether they have purchased a lift ticket or stair ticket. The actual count of stairs includes 9 steps to the ticket booth at the base, 328 steps to the first level, 340 steps to the second level and 18 steps to the lift platform on the second level. When exiting the lift at the third level there are 15 more steps to ascend to the upper observation platform. The step count is printed periodically on the side of the stairs to give an indication of progress of ascent. The majority of the ascent allows for an unhindered view of the area directly beneath and around the tower although some short stretches of the stairway are enclosed.

Maintenance of the tower includes applying 50 to 60 tonnes of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. In 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. The co-architects of the Eiffel Tower are Emile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre.

History
The structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Eiffel originally planned to build the tower in Barcelona, for the Universal Exposition of 1888, but those responsible at the Barcelona city hall thought it was a strange and expensive construction, which did not fit into the design of the city. After the refusal of the Consistory of Barcelona, Eiffel submitted his draft to those responsible for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he would build his tower a year later, in 1889. The tower was inaugurated on March 31, 1889, and opened on May 6. Three hundred workers joined together 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a very pure form of structural 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. However, because Eiffel took safety precautions, including the use of movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died.

The tower was met with much criticism from the public when it was built, with many calling it an eyesore. Newspapers of the day were filled with angry letters from the arts community of Paris. One is quoted extensively in William Watson's US Government Printing Office publication of 1892 Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture. “And during twenty years we shall see, stretching over the entire city, still thrilling with the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretching out like a black blot the odious shadow of the odious column built up of riveted iron plates.” Signers of this letter included Messonier, Gounod, Garnier, Gerome, Bougeureau, and Dumas.

Novelist Guy de Maupassant — who claimed to hate the tower — supposedly ate lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the one place in Paris where one could not see the structure. Today, the Tower is widely considered to be a striking piece of structural art.

One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to 7 stories, only a very few of the taller buildings have a clear view of the tower.

Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, meaning it would have had to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down (part of the original contest rules for designing a tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiration of the permit. The military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during the First Battle of the Marne, and it therefore became a victory statue of that battle.

Shape of the tower

At the time the tower was built many people were shocked by its daring shape. Eiffel was criticised for the design and accused of trying to create something artistic, or inartistic according to the viewer, without regard to engineering. Eiffel and his engineers, as renowned bridge builders however, understood the importance of wind forces and knew that if they were going to build the tallest structure in the world they had to be certain it would withstand the wind. In an interview reported in the newspaper Le Temps, Eiffel said:
“ Now to what phenomenon did I give primary concern in designing the Tower? It was wind resistance. Well then! I hold that the curvature of the monument's four outer edges, which is as mathematical calculation dictated it should be (...) will give a great impression of strength and beauty, for it will reveal to the eyes of the observer the boldness of the design as a whole. ”

—translated from the French newspaper Le Temps of February 14, 1887

The shape of the tower was therefore determined by mathematical calculation involving wind resistance. Several theories of this mathematical calculation have been proposed over the years, the most recent is a nonlinear integral differential equation based on counterbalancing the wind pressure on any point on the tower with the tension between the construction elements at that point. That shape is exponential. A careful plot of the tower curvature however, reveals two different exponentials, the lower section having a stronger resistance to wind forces.

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 November 20, 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 in Arlington, Virginia. The object of the transmissions was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, D.C.

The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m, 311 ft, above sea level); and the Jules 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, a new multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne.

The uppermost observation deck, with a height of 275 metres, is the highest area of an architectural structure in the European Union open for the public.

The passenger lifts from ground level to the first level are operated by cables and pulleys driven by massive water-powered pistons. As they ascend the inclined arc of the legs, the elevator cabins tilt slightly, but with a slight jolt every few seconds, in order to keep the floor nearly level. The elevator works are on display and open to the public in a small museum located in one of the four tower bases,

Events
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Lightning strikes the Eiffel Tower on June 3, 1902, at 9:20 P.M
Lightning strikes the Eiffel Tower on June 3, 1902, at 9:20 P.M
The Eiffel Tower served as an advertising space for Citroën from 1925 to 1934.
The Eiffel Tower served as an advertising space for Citroën from 1925 to 1934.

* On September 10, 1889, Thomas Edison visited the tower. He signed the guestbook with the following message—

“ To M Eiffel the Engineer the brave builder of so gigantic and original specimen of modern Engineering from one who has the greatest respect and admiration for all Engineers including the Great Engineer the Bon Dieu, Thomas Edison. ”

* Father Theodor Wulf in 1910 took observations of radiant energy radiating at the top and bottom of the tower, discovering at the top more than was expected, and thereby detecting what are today known as cosmic rays.
* On February 4, 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping 60 metres from the first deck of Eiffel tower with his home-made parachute.
* In 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the tower for scrap metal.
* In 1930, the tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York City.
* From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.
* Upon the Nazi occupation of Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut by the French so that Adolf Hitler would have to climb the steps to the summit. The parts to repair them were allegedly impossible to obtain because of the war. In 1940 German soldiers had to climb to the top to hoist the swastika, but the flag was so large it blew away just a few hours later, and it was replaced by a smaller one. When visiting Paris, Hitler chose to stay on the ground. It was said that Hitler conquered France, but did not conquer the Eiffel Tower. A Frenchman scaled the tower during the German occupation to hang the French flag. In August 1944, when the Allies were nearing Paris, Hitler ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, to demolish the tower along with the rest of the city. Von Choltitz disobeyed the order. The lifts of the Tower were working normally within hours of the Liberation of Paris.
* On January 3, 1956, a fire damaged the top of the tower.
* In 1957, the present radio antenna was added to the top.
* In the 1980s, an old restaurant and its supporting iron scaffolding midway up the tower was dismantled; it was purchased and reconstructed on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, by entrepreneurs John Onorio and Daniel Bonnot, originally as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant, known more recently as the Red Room. The restaurant was re-assembled from 11,000 pieces that crossed the Atlantic in a 40-foot (12 m) cargo container.
* On March 31, 1984, Robert Moriarty flew a Beechcraft Bonanza through the arches of the tower.
* In 1985's James Bond action/adventure film A View to a Kill, Sir Roger Moore as James Bond chases May Day played by actress Grace Jones up the Eiffel Tower. She parachutes from the structure to escape. The video of the film's theme tune, performed by the group Duran Duran, also included several scenes of the band staged on the tower intercut with clips from the film. A full 20 years earlier, the Bond film Thunderball (1965) featured an establishing shot of the tower as the villainous Largo, played by Adolfo Celi, parks outside the headquarters of SPECTRE in Paris.
* In 1987, A.J. Hackett made one of his first bungy jumps from the top of the Eiffel Tower, using a special cord he had helped develop. Upon reaching the ground, Hackett was immediately arrested by the Paris police.
* On July 14, 1995, Bastille Day, French synthesiser musician Jean Michel Jarre performed Concert For Tolerance at the tower in aid of UNESCO. The free concert was attended by an estimated 1.5 million people, filling the Champ-de-Mars. The concert featured lighting and projection effects on the tower, and a huge firework display throughout. Exactly three years later, he returned to the same spot for a more dance music orientated show, Electronic Night.

The stars of the European Flag were mounted on the tower at the start of the French Presidency of the European Union in 2008 as a present to all citizens of European Union countries.

* On New Year's Eve 1999, the Eiffel Tower played host to Paris' Millennium Celebration. Fireworks exploded from the whole length of the tower in a spectacular display. An exhibition above a cafeteria on the first floor commemorates this event.
* In 2000, flashing lights and four high-power searchlights were installed on the tower. Since then the light show has become a nightly event. The searchlights on top of the tower make it a beacon in Paris' night sky.
* The tower received its 200,000,000th guest of all-time in 2002.
* At 19:20 on July 22, 2003, a fire occurred at the top of the tower in the broadcasting equipment room. The entire tower was evacuated; the fire was extinguished after 40 minutes, and there were no reports of injuries.
* Since 2004, the Eiffel Tower has hosted an ice skating rink on the first floor during the winter period.
* At the start of the French Presidency of the European Union in the second half of 2008, the twelve golden stars of the European Flag were mounted on the base, and whole tower bathed in blue light.

Engraved names

Main article: The 72 names on the Eiffel Tower

Gustave Eiffel engraved on the tower seventy-two names of French scientists, engineers and other notable people. This engraving was painted over at the beginning of the twentieth century but restored in 1986–1987 by the Société Nouvelle d'exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a company contracted to operate business related to the Tower.

Image copyright claims

Images of the tower have long been in the public domain; however, in 2003 SNTE (Société nouvelle d'exploitation de la tour Eiffel) installed a new lighting display on the tower. The effect was to put any night-time image of the tower and its lighting display under copyright. As a result, it was no longer legal to publish contemporary photographs of the tower at night without permission in some countries.

The imposition of copyright has been controversial. The Director of Documentation for SNTE, Stéphane Dieu, commented in January 2005, "It is really just a way to manage commercial use of the image, so that it isn't used in ways we don't approve." However, it also potentially has the effect of prohibiting tourist photographs of the tower at night from being published as well as hindering non profit and semi-commercial publication of images of the tower.

In a recent decision, the Court of Cassation ruled that copyright could not be claimed over images including a copyrighted building if the photograph encompassed a larger area. This seems to indicate that SNTE cannot claim copyright on photographs of Paris incorporating the lit tower.

In some jurisdictions, this claim of copyright is explicitly disallowed. In Irish copyright law, works "permanently situated in a public place or in premises open to the public" may be freely included in visual reproductions.

As a global landmark, the Eiffel Tower is featured in media including films, video games, and television shows.

Lattice towers taller than the Eiffel Tower
Name Pinnacle height Year Country Town Remarks
Kiev TV Tower 1263 ft 385 m 1973 Ukraine Kiev Tallest lattice tower of the world
Tashkent Tower 1230 ft 374.9 m 1985 Uzbekistan Tashkent
Pylons of Yangtze River Crossing 1137 ft 346.5m 2003 People’s Republic of China Jiangyin 2 towers, tallest pylons in the world
Dragon Tower 1102 ft 336 m 2000 People’s Republic of China Harbin
Tokyo Tower 1091 ft 332.6 m 1958 Japan Tokyo
WITI TV Tower 1078 ft 329 m 1962 U.S. Shorewood, Wisconsin
WSB TV Tower 1075 ft 327.6 m 1957 U.S. Atlanta, Georgia

Architectural structures in France taller than the Eiffel Tower
Name Pinnacle height Year Structure type Town Remarks
Longwave transmitter Allouis 350 m 1974 Guyed Mast Allouis
HWU transmitter 350 m ? Guyed Mast Rosnay Multiple masts
Viaduc de Millau 343 m 2004 Bridge Pillar Millau
TV Mast Niort-Maisonnay 330 m ? Guyed Mast Niort
Transmitter Le Mans-Mayet 342 m 1993 Guyed Mast Mayet
Transmitter Roumoules 330 m 1974 Guyed Mast Roumoules spare transmission mast for long wave, insulated against ground

Reproductions
Replica at Kings Island near Cincinnati, Ohio

Replica of Eiffel Tower on factory building at Satteldorf near Crailsheim, Germany

In order of decreasing height:

* In front of the Paris Las Vegas hotel/casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada, near Las Vegas, Nevada — 165 m (540 ft, scale 1:2).
* Tianducheng, Hangzhou, China ~108 m[ 30°23?6.72?N 120°14?36.60?E? / ?30.3852, 120.2435
* Shenzhen, China — ~100 m (~328 ft, scale 1:3) 22°32?13.33?N 113°58?9.51?E? / ?22.5370361, 113.9693083
* Slobozia, Romania — 54 m (177 ft)
* In Parizh, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Nagaybaksky District, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Built by South Ural Cell Telephone company as a cellphone tower — 50 m (164 ft) 53°17?51.02?N 60°5?59.46?E? / ?53.2975056, 60.09985
* In Zoo, Copenhagen, Denmark. Wooden replica — 50 m (164 ft) 55°40?19.16?N 12°31?24.70?E? / ?55.6719889, 12.5235278
* Fayetteville, North Carolina — The Bordeaux Tower is about 45 m (150 ft) featuring an elevator that takes people to the top for a small view.
* Walt Disney World's Epcot theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida (at the France Pavilion in World Showcase) — 23 (76 ft, scale 1:10)
* Paris, Texas — 20 m (65 ft)
* Eiffel Tower (Paris, Tennessee) in Paris, Tennessee — about 20 m (60 ft) tall.
* As a Meccano model, housed at the Technology Museum of Georgia (Atlanta, Georgia) — 11 m (36 t)
* On the roof of the catering company Rungis Express in Meckenheim and Satteldorf, Germany — (height unknown)
* Centerpiece of the Falconcity of Wonders — a planned new development project in Dubai. UAE, featuring seven modern wonders of the world (planned). [show location on an interactive map] 25°5?43.8?N 55°20?31.5?E? / ?25.0955, 55.342083 (approximate coordinates)
* Mini-Europe, Brussels, a 12.96 m model (a proportion of 1:25 to the original).
* Model on the roof of the Rue De Paris cafe in Brisbane, Australia — (roughly 12 m tall)
* Model in the First World Plaza shopping mall in Genting Highlands, Malaysia
* In Austin, Texas there is a 7.5 m (25 ft) tall replica at the Dreyfus Antique Shop.
* An 18 m model in Filiatra, Messinia, Greece, at the entrance of the village
* Paris, Michigan; approximately 3 m (10 ft) tall and in a park
* Golden Sands sea resort in Varna, Bulgaria — A tower with a ratio of 1:10 to the original is built in the town as a tourist attraction.
* Aktau, Kazakhstan — model at the front of the office of Oil Construction Company
* Satteldorf near Crailsheim, Germany. On the top of a company building

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