You have made it to one of the most famous buildings in the world; the Eiffel Tower in
Paris.
You are not the only one to see the tower tough, as it is the most visited paid monument
in the world.
An estimate of over 200.000.000 people has seen the tower, on site, since its construction
in 1889.
The building is named after its main designer; the French metallic structure expert and engineer,
Gustave Eiffel.
Eiffel had previously designed multiple metallic structures such as several railway bridges
and the armature for another world known monument, the statue of Liberty.
This time he had his eyes on construction a metallic structure in the shape of a tower.
What many people do not know is that the building was originally planned to be in Barcelona,
for the Universal Exposition in 1888, but it was turned down as it was "too expensive
and strange".
Instead, Eiffel tried to build it in Paris for the Universal Exposition in 1889, and
this time the building was approved.
Fifty engineers produced over 5300 drawings of the different parts needed to build the
tower.
The towers 18.000 metal parts were built separately in workshop and then assembled on site by
using more than 2.500.000 rivets.
Even though the assembling was an extremely dangerous procedure, without many of the modern
safety precautions, only one man was killed during the construction.
The construction began 1887 and the tower stood finished march 31, 1889.
"The Iron Lady", as it is sometimes called, has not always been the loved structure it
is today.
During its planning and construction phase, many protested against the construction of
the tower.
Many called it an eyesore and the papers were filled with angry letters from the arts communities
in Paris.
Even after its construction the tower was highly controversial amongst the Parisians.
One famous quote is from novelist Guy de Maupassant, who hated the tower but still went to its
restaurant every day.
When asked why, he said it was because it is the only place in Paris were one cannot
see the structure.
Luckily for the Eiffel tower haters, Eiffel only had permit to keep the tower for 20 years,
after that it would be demolished.
However, as the tower proved valuable for telecommunication purposes, it was allowed
to remain intact even after the time had expired.
As time passed, more and more people started to like the building.
Today, almost all Parisians love the tower.
Through out the years, the Eiffel tower has seen a lot.
People have tied new weird parachute innovations (more or less successful), an elephant have
been on visit inside the tower and staircase races have been conducted.
The tower also experienced the German occupation of Paris during the Second World War.
During the occupation, the lift cables inside the tower were cut by the French.
This to make sure Hitler had to take the 1665 step stairs if he wanted to scale the top,
since the proper parts to repairs the lift were impossible to obtain during the war.
When visiting Paris, Hitler remained on ground.
Thus it's said Hitler conquered France, but he did not conquer the Eiffel tower.
At the liberation of Paris in 1944, the Eiffel tower became of symbol of liberty when a French
flag, made of three bed sheets sawn together, was raised on the top of tower.
The building was at its time of construction the highest tower in the world with its 312
meters.
Today, the tower totals 324 meters, as an antenna has been added to the top.
The tower weighs a massive 10.100 ton.
To prevent the metal from rust, the tower is covered with a protective paint.
Even though it can be hard to spot, the tower is actually painted in a three-tone variation
paint, with the lightest tone on top and darker the further down it goes.
This is to make sure that the tower compliments the Paris sky as good as possible.
The tower needs to be repainted every seven years, and as you can imagine, it takes quite
some time and paint to finish the job.
Each repaint takes between 15-18 months to complete and around 60 ton is required.
If you haven't already, make sure to get a glimpse of the tower by night.
By night the towers 336 and 20.000 light bulbs turns something amazing into something truly
amazing.