Its history is very interesting. Its construction has caused a few worries to its creator, Gustave Eiffel. It was a temporary construction that was to stay only twenty years. But its revolutionary architectural style changed its fate. Now, approximately 7 million visitors climb the Eiffel Tower every year! Read on and find out more about the brief history of the Eiffel Tower….
The construction time of the Eiffel Tower is actually quite impressive. The first digging work started on the January 28th On March 31st , the Tower had been finished in record time. It only took a total of 2 years, 2 months and 5 days to construct!
But who decided to place this giant object in the middle of the city? Keep reading to find out more. Who built the Eiffel Tower? The Eiffel Tower was named after Gustave Eiffel, whose company was in charge of the project. Gustave Eiffel was not, however, the primary designer of the famous iron structure.
In recognition of the engineers, scientists and mathematicians who contributed to the construction of the tower, the names of these persons were engraved on the side of tower.
At the time of the construction of the Eiffel Tower , the architecture became industrial. The industry and the creativity were combined for the construction of the monument. The purpose was to show the other nations the power and the industrial abilities of France. The tower was constructed by the Seine and its rounded shape was used as the entry to the exhibition. In , to honor of the centenary of the French Revolution , the French government planned an international exposition and announced a design competition for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris.
Eiffel, a noted bridge builder, was a master of metal construction and designed the framework of the Statue of Liberty that had recently been erected in New York Harbor. Unperturbed, Eiffel completed his great tower under budget in just two years.
Only one worker lost his life during construction, which at the time was a remarkably low casualty number for a project of that magnitude. The light, airy structure was by all accounts a technological wonder and within a few decades came to be regarded as an architectural masterpiece.
The Eiffel Tower is feet tall and consists of an iron framework supported on four masonry piers, from which rise four columns that unite to form a single vertical tower. Platforms, each with an observation deck, are at three levels. Fireworks were then set off from the second platform. When Germany occupied France during the second World War, Hitler ordered that the Eiffel Tower be torn down , but the order was never followed through.
Before the Eiffel Tower was built, Eiffel's firm was asked to design the internal frame for the Statue of Liberty, a task assigned to his trusted employee, Maurice Koechlin. They proved their iron handiwork with Lady Liberty first.
Tucked into the first floor of the Tower next to the gift shops, there is a tiny post office. Eiffel opened the doors of the laboratory to other scientists to use for the experiments, too, and cosmic rays were discovered there. The massive iron structure is wind resistant and will sway during a storm. Its height and unique silhouette floating above the Paris landscape quickly made the Eiffel Tower one of the most popular attractions in Paris.
The Tower's destiny is closely linked to that of the city of Paris, the capital of France and the Eiffel Tower's owner.
Since the beginning, the Eiffel Tower drew attention and served as the theatre for numerous events in the life of Paris and France: the grandiose fireworks on July 14 "Bastille Day" , national-level events and large-scale sporting events. The Tower can be seen from many and various points around Paris and its suburbs.
It is photographed, drawn, filmed, and replicated in all kinds of circumstances. It is the monument photographed by all visitors to Paris. It naturally slipped into the role of symbolizing France in the collective imagination, in movies and graphic arts but also in literature and poetry. For years, the Eiffel Tower has been a powerful and distinctive symbol of the city of Paris, and by extension, of France. At first, when it was built for the World's Fair, it impressed the entire world by its stature and daring design, and symbolized French know-how and industrial genius.
A monument known around the world and a unique tourist attraction, the Eiffel Tower has loyally accompanied the people of Paris and its suburbs in their daily life.
Rising to a height of meters, it can be seen from all over Paris, and beyond, day and night until 1 am thanks to its lighting, the twinkling illumination at fixed times and its beacon that reaches out to 80 km, at degrees.
The Eiffel Tower has witnessed and sometimes been an actor in important events, both sumptuous and tragic, in France's history. In its early years the Eiffel Tower was a productive laboratory for scientific experiments, in particular for wireless telegraphy, which saved it from destruction after the initially scheduled period of 20 years.
Tower's destiny is also intimately linked to technical advancements in radio and television. Today, the Eiffel Tower's lights are turned off at night to honor the victims of dramatic events around the world.
Even more than a symbol, it has become a means of expression for the city of Paris and all of France. We have to first put the Eiffel Tower back in its historical context.
It was two engineers who worked in Gustave Eiffel's company who, in , imagined building a metal tower meters high for the World's Fair in Paris.
These engineers were specialists in large-scale metallic structures like bridges, railway stations, viaducts, etc. It was only natural that the first sketch of the meter Tower, issued from the calculations made by these two engineers, shows a pylon with 4 legs, each made of 4 robust beams linked together by open-web- joists that rise diagonally to meet at the summit.
All these shapes and curves simply recall the biggest viaducts built by Eiffel around the same time!
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