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Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel; IPA pronunciation: /'aɪfəl/, "eye-full" English; /ɛ'fɛl/, "ee-fell" French) is an iron tower built on the Champ de Mars, beside the River Seine in Paris. It is among the most recognized symbols of France. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, it is a premier tourist destination, with over 5.5 million visitors per year.
Statistics
The tower stands 300 m (986 feet) high, which is about 75 stories. Including the 24 m (72 feet) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1058 feet) high. At the time of its construction in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure in the world, a title it retained until 1930, when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m/1046 feet tall) was completed (although the Eiffel Tower was still taller if the respective spires of the two structures were excluded). The Eiffel Tower is the second-highest structure in France, after the 350 m Allouis longwave transmitter. By far, the tower is the highest structure in Paris; France's third-highest structure, the Montparnasse Tower (Tour Montparnasse) in Montparnasse neighborhood, is 209 m.
Background
Eiffel tower under construction in July 1888
The structure was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle (1889), a World's fair marking the centennial celebration of the French revolution. It is located at geographic coordinates 48°51′29″N, 2°17′40″E. 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. Yet, because Eiffel took good care of his workers with movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only one man died (during the installation of Otis Elevator's lifts).
The tower is 300 meters (986 feet) tall, not including the 24-meter television antenna on top. The metal structure weighs 7,300 metric tons, the total weight is 10,100 metric tons. The number of steps to the summit has varied over the history of the tower through various renovations: at the time of construction in 1889, there were 1710 steps to the summit platform at 300.65 m; after a renovation in the early 1980s, there were 1920 steps; and today there are 1665 steps (although it is not possible for the public to reach the summit via the stairs—elevators are required beyond the second platform).
Depending on the ambient temperature, the top of the Eiffel Tower may shift away from the sun by up to 8 cm (3.25 inches), due to expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun.
Maintenance on the tower includes applying 50 metric tons of three graded tones of paint every 7 years to protect it from rust. On occasion, the colour of the paint is changed (the tower is currently painted a shade of brown). On the first floor, there are interactive consoles hosting a poll for the colour to use for a future session of painting.
The tower was met with resistance from the public when it was first built, many thinking it an eyesore. Today, it is widely considered to be one of the most striking pieces of structural art in the world.
One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view from a Parisian window always includes the Eiffel Tower. In reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most buildings in Paris to a few stories, only a few of the taller buildings have a clear view of the Tower.
Originally, Eiffel had a permit to leave the tower standing for 20 years, more than recouping his expenses, but, as it proved valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to stay after the end of the permit.
Installations
The lace-like iron detailing
Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Eiffel Tower has been used for radio transmission. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchor points on the avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars. They were connected to long-wave transmitters which were in small bunkers; in 1909, a permanent underground radio center was built near the south pillar of the tower and still exists today. Since 1957, the Eiffel Tower has been used as transmission tower for FM and television.
The Eiffel Tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m above sea level); and the Jules Verne, an expensive gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a private elevator. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide.
Events
Looking down from the top observation deck
Father Theodor Wulf in 1910 took observations of radiant energy radiating at the top and bottom of the Eiffel Tower, discovering more than was expected at the top, and thereby detecting what are today known as cosmic rays.
In 1925, the con artist Victor Lustig twice "sold" the Eiffel Tower for scrap.
In 1930, the Tower lost the title of the World's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York.
From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest billboard in the world at the time.
Looking down from the first level at one of the feet of the Tower
When the Nazis occupied Paris in 1940, the lift cables were cut by the French so that Hitler would have to climb the 1,665 steps to the summit - the parts to repair them were allegedly impossible to obtain because of the war, though it was working again within hours of the departure of the Nazis. He chose to stay on the ground. A Frenchman also 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 burn down the tower along with the rest of the city. He disobeyed the order.
On January 3, 1956, a fire damaged the top of the tower.
In 1959 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; this was purchased and reconstructed in New Orleans, Louisiana, originally as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant, more recently known as the Red Room.
In the year 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 on November 28, 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 forty minutes, and there were no reports of injuries.
The 72 names
- Main article: The 72 names on the Eiffel Tower
On the tower, the names of 72 French scientists and engineers are engraved in recognition of their contributions. This engraving was overpainted at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in 1986-1987 by SNTE ("Société Nouvelle d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel"), a company contracted to operate business related to the Tower (the Tower is owned by the City of Paris).
Image copyright
Images of the Eiffel Tower have long been in the public domain; however in 2003, the operating company SNTE installed a new lighting display on the tower. The effect is to put the night-time image of the tower under copyright. It follows that it is no longer legal to publish contemporary photographs of the tower at night without permission.
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. [1]
In a recent decision, the Court of Cassation ruled that an architect could not claim copyright over images including one building the design of which they held the copyright if the photograph encompasses a larger area. This seems to indicate that SNTE cannot claim copyright on photographs of Paris incorporating the lighted tower at night.
Appearance in film / video games
The Eiffel Tower is made from 18,038 pieces of puddled iron
- 1923: René Clair's Paris qui dort starts, ends and has many scenes on the Eiffel Tower.
- 1949: In the film The Man On The Eiffel Tower the Tower plays a central role, and the climactic scene involves a climbing chase that predates the Mount Rushmore scene of North by Northwest.
- 1951: The Lavender Hill Mob - models of the tower are central to the plot, and the climax takes place on the real tower.
- 1953: In the end of The War of the Worlds, the tower is seen destroyed.
- 1958: At the beginning of Francois Truffaut's The 400 Blows the tower is seen between Parisian apartment blocks
- 1965: At the end of the Blake Edwards movie The Great Race, starring Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, [2] the tower is blown up by a misfired cannon shot from Professor Fate's car.
- 1970: The tower is shown in the classic animated film The Aristocats.
- 1980: The tower (and the rest of Paris) were almost blown up by a terrorist nuclear bomb and Lois Lane almost plunged to her death under its elevator in Superman II.
- 1981: Condorman attempts to fly off of the tower in the movie by the same name.
- 1985: The James Bond film A View to a Kill contains a scene in the Eiffel Tower including scenes in the Jules Verne restaurant there.
- 1985: In the film National Lampoon's European Vacation, Clark throws Rusty's beret off the Tower. A dog, thinking it is a frisbe, jumps after it. Because they sought a PG-13 rating, however, the dog is not seen dying, but rather, lands in a pond at the bottom of the tower.
- 1991: In Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the Eiffel Tower is shown as still standing in the 23rd Century and is visible from the office of the Federation President. The Eiffel Tower was also seen in the Star Trek franchise in 24th Century Paris in the episode of "We'll Always Have Paris"(1988) of Star Trek: The Next Generation and in two episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, "Homefront" and "Paradise Lost" (1996).
- 1995: In La Haine, the main protagonists lament the fact that they cannot switch the lights of the Eiffel Tower off like people can in the movies. The lights switch off just after they have given up and turned their backs on the tower.
- 1995: In French Kiss, Kate misses seeing the tower several times while she wanders around Paris, but later spends several minutes rapturously watching it while on the train to Cannes (which apparently doesn't actually go by the Tower).
- 1995: In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer, the Eiffel Tower is one of four selectable targets for the Global Defense Initiative's hijacked Ion Cannon weapon during the ending sequence of the Brotherhood of Nod scenario.
- 1996: The Eiffel Tower can be seen on TV in Independence Day (and is destroyed in the French movie version).
- 1996: In Mars Attacks!, the Eiffel Tower is destroyed by Martians.
- 1998: The tower is destroyed in Armageddon.
- 2000: In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, the babies are atop the tower while using the giant Reptar invention.
- 2000: In the real-time strategy game of Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2, Soviet forces turns the Eiffel Tower into a giant tesla coil capable of destroying all French forces in the area.
- 2001: In The Royal Tenenbaums, the tower appears reflected on the window in a brief scene of Margot Tenenbaum (Gwyneth Paltrow) with her french lesbian lover
- 2001: In Moulin Rouge!, an object thrown from Montmartre by Christian (Ewan McGregor) bounces off the tower underneath the smiling moon during the finale.
- 2003: In The Real World Paris television show on the US MTV network, the tower is seen.
- 2003: The Tower is featured in Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
- 2004: In Van Helsing, the Eiffel Tower is under construction.
- 2004: In Team America: World Police, a rocket blows the tower up, then the tower falls on the Arc de Triomphe.
- 2004: In Onimusha 3: Demon's Siege, The Tower was turned into a strong-hold cum time-portal built by Genma Head-Scientist: Guildrenstein, in order to 'rolled on the red carpet' for it's master: Lord Nobunaga, to fulfilling it's agenda of global domination in past, present & future timeline. This insidious plot, however, was foiled eventually when the evil Nobunaga was defeated & vanquished by both Oni Warrior Samanosuke Akechi (voiced by Oriental International Actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (金城 武) ) & French Special Task Force-Agent Jacques Blanc (voiced by popular French International Actor Jean Reno) in their final showdown.
- 2004: The tower flew and moved around Paris in the puppet version of Without a Paddle, in a scene that starts only after the credits end.
- 2004: In Godzilla: Final Wars, Kamacuras attacks the tower.
- 2004: The tower is seen in Eurotrip.
Imitations and reproductions
Several reproductions/models of the Eiffel Tower (often smaller-scale) exist.
Imitations (similar towers, not scale models)
In order of decreasing height:
- Kiev TV Tower, Kiev, Ukraine - At 385m, the world's tallest lattice tower, with similarities to the Eiffel Tower, although with no observation deck for visitors.
- Riga Radio and TV Tower, Riga, Latvia - 368.5 m concrete tower on three legs, in similar style to the Eiffel Tower.
- Dragon Tower, Harbin - a 336 metre high lattice tower at Harbin, China.
- Tokyo Tower, Tokyo, Japan - 9m higher than the original (33 m if the TV antenna is included)).
- Yerevan TV Tower, Yerevan, Armenia - 311.7 m high lattice tower built from 1974 to 1977.
- St. Petersburg TV Tower, St. Petersburg, Russia - 310 m lattice tower without observation deck, resembling the Eiffel Tower.
- Star Tower, Cincinnati, Ohio - 291.4 m transmission tower from a similar design, but without observation deck.
- Qingdao TV Tower, China - 232 m TV tower with observation deck.
- Crystal Palace Transmitter, London, England - 222 m TV tower without observation deck, nicknamed London's Eiffel Tower.
- Brasilia TV Tower, Brasilia, Brazil - 218 m lattice tower with an observation deck at a height of 75 m.
- Guangzhou TV Tower, Guangzhou, China - A 217 metre high TV tower of lattice steel at Guangzhou
- Guangdong TV Tower, Guangdong, China - A 200 metre high TV tower of lattice steel at Guangdong
- Nagoya TV Tower, Nagoya, Japan - 180 m
- Odinstårnet, Odense, Denmark - A 177 metre high lattice tower, destroyed in 1944
- Blackpool Tower, Blackpool, England - 158 m (519 ft); it is not quite a free-standing structure, it stands above the Tower Circus complex, where the four "legs" can be seen.
- Mesquite Tower, Mesquite, Texas - 155.3 m transmission tower from a similar design, but without observation deck.
- Croydon Transmitter - A 152 metre high transmission tower at London without observation deck
- Radio Tower Berlin, Berlin, Germany - 150m transmission tower with observation deck. Sometimes nicknamed as a copy of the Eiffel Tower, although the two structures are not too similar. The Radio Tower Berlin is the only observation tower whose feet are insulated against ground.
- Sapporo TV Tower, Sapporo, Japan - 147 m.
- Beppu Tower, Beppu, Japan - 100 m, [3]
- Zendstation Zwollerkerspel - 90 m high radio tower remembering to Eiffel Tower
- Tour métallique de Fourvière, Lyon, France - 85.7 m lattice tower built from 1892 to 1894. Used until 1953 as an observation tower, but is now a TV Tower closed to visitors.
- Torre del Reformador, Guatemala City, Guatemala - 75 m.
- Transmitter Brookmans Park - two 60.96 metre high lattice towers, insulated against ground
- Petrinska rozhledna, Prague, Czech Republic - 60 m, built in 1891.
- Watkins' Tower, Wembley Park, London, England - never completed, demolished in 1907.
- Joseph's Cross, Stollberg/Harz, Germany - 38 m observation tower in form of a double-cross, resembling the Eiffel Tower.
- Lemberg Tower, Lemberg Mountain, Germany - 33 m observatio tower of lattice steel, built in 1899
- Tour du Belvédère - a small observation tower in Mulhouse, Alsace, France resembling to Eiffel Tower.
- Woodwards Building, Vancouver, Canada - A small reproduction on the roof of the building is topped by a signature neon "W". This building is now being converted into social housing. [4]
Reproductions (to scale)
In order of decreasing height:
- In front of the Paris Las Vegas hotel/casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, Nevada, near Las Vegas, USA - 165 m (540 ft, scale 1:2). [5]
- Shenzhen, China - ~100 m (~328 ft, scale 1:3)
- Paramount's Kings Island, Ohio, USA - ~100 m (~328 ft, scale 1:3)
- Paramount's Kings Dominion, Virginia, USA - 84 m (275 ft, scale 1:3.59)
- Slobozia, Romania - 54 m (177 ft)
- In Parizh, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Nagaybaksky District, Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Built by South Ural Cell Telephone company, used as a cell phone tower. - 50 m (164 ft)
- Walt Disney World's Epcot theme park in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA (at the France Pavilion in World Showcase) - 23 m (76 ft, scale 1:13) (information)
- Paris, Texas - 20 m (65 ft)
- As a Meccano model, housed at the Technology Museum of Georgia (Atlanta, Georgia). - 11m (36 ft) [6]
- On a roof of an industrial building in 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). [7]
- Model of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Tennessee, about 25 feet (7.6 m) tall.
- Model on the roof of the Rue De Paris cafe in Brisbane, Australia - (roughly 12m tall)
Scale Models
The Heller company sells an unassembled 1:650 scale plastic model of the Tower under reference 81201; it is about 49 cm (19 inches) tall when assembled.
Paper scale model by Paperlandmarks is 36 cm (14 inches) tall when assembled.
Access
References
- Frémy, Dominique, Quid de la Tour Eiffel, Robert Lafont, Paris (1989) - out of print
External links
Self-supporting structures or proposed structures at least 300 meters in height
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Coordinates: 48°51′29″N, 02°17′40″E
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower under GFDL
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