The Eiffel Tower is a leading tourist destination on the Champ de Mars by
the river Seine in Paris.
It is built of iron and was designed by engineer Gustave Eiffel, from whom
it gets its name.
The height of the Eiffel Tower is 1058 ft which is about 81 stories and when
it was built in 1889 held the title of world’s tallest building until 1930,
when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York. The tower is 986ft
high, which is approximately 75 stories and proves to be very popular
amongst architects as it is one of the few structures in the world which is
perfectly vertical.
Every seven years the tower is protected from rust by applying 50 tonnes of
three graded paint, the colour of which is currently brown. Polls of colour
can be found on the first floor which shows the colour for future use.
The tower was built between 1887 and 1889 to mark the centennial
celebrations of the French Revolution and was the entrance arch for the
Exposition Universelle which was a World’s Fair.
The structure was inaugurated on the 31st March 1889 and finally opened on
the 6th May that year.
The Eiffel Tower was originally only given a permit to stand for 20 years,
which would have more than covered the erection expenses, but proved to be
invaluable for communication purposes as it was used by the military to
dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line in the Marne. It became infamous
for being used in the capture of “Mata Hari” and after this event demolition
was out of the question.
There are two restaurants in the tower : Altitude 95 which is located on the
first floor and the Jules Verne on the second floor, which is a gourmet
restaurant with it’s own private elevator.
In 2003 SNTE installed a lighting display on the tower which in effect took
the building out of the public domain as any night-time images of the tower
were put under copyright. The Court of Cassation ordered that this
copyright could not be claimed where photographs covered a wider area that
included the lit tower.
The Eiffel Tower is still considered one of the most striking pieces of
structural art in the world today.
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"About The Author" below
About The Author
Barry Sheppard writes, as a hobby, for http://www.traintraveller.com
an online site informing readers how to travel throughout the world by train.
He has written and had published 15 books, and 100's of articles on a wide range of
subjects.He runs a 121 writing course by phone and email . You can get the details of this
course from Barry at Email:
He has also started writing and adding articles for content pages from
Eiffel Tower
