If there is something about Paris that does not need presentation, then this is definitely the Eiffel Tower. Symbol of Paris in France and at the same time, of the entire humanity, the Eiffel Tower is the most visited paid monument in the world with more than 6 million visitors per year.
Did you know that Gustave Eiffel originally intended to build it in Barcelona for the Universal Exhibition in 1888, that it had to be destroyed twenty years later, when it came into the possession of Paris city hall or the top of the tower is swinging a few inches when the wind blows? Did you know that is painted every seven years an
d the entire procedure takes 18 months?
All these things that have happened or, looking from another angle, didn’t take place, fortunately, make from the Eiffel Tower a unique monument without which, both Paris, France, and the whole world would have been certainly poorer. And then we just have to admire it in films, photographs, or why not, even at its base, looking up towards the sky, with hopes in a more gracious world.
Although a preliminary draft was dating since 1884, the construction of the tower began on January 26 1887, expected to be completed in 1889 at the Paris Universal Exhibition, held to mark the centenary of the French Revolution.
50 engineers have developed plans for the tower, leading to a total of approximately 5300 drawings, 100 workers produced more than 18,000 parts of steel necessary to its assembly and 132 people have actually worked on the site. The construction lasted two years and two months, the tower being inaugurated on 31 March 1889.
Tower is comprised of 7300 tonnes of metal. With non-metal parts, it weighs about 10,000 tons, which may seem enormous weight.
Eiffel Tower has three floors, situated at a height of 57 feet (first floor), 115 meters (second floor) and 276 meters (third floor). The total height of 324 meters, aspect that has brought until 1930, the title of world’s tallest structure. In that year, the Chrysler Building in New York had to steal his crown.
If you go through the Paris metro, you can get close the tower using the RATP Metro Line 6, with stop at the Bir-Hakeem station, or for a spectacular view that includes the tower, Trocadero station. Also you can go to the Trocadero with the RATP Metro Line 9, and if you want another alternative, you can use the RATP Metro Line 8, with a stop at Ecole Militaire station.
