Eiffel Tower Fun Facts

How many structures are more recognizable than the Eiffel Tower? Not many, of course. And thank goodness attitudes do change, even (or especially?) in France. Just after the commencement of the Eiffel Tower in 1889, it created a lot of controversy among French intellectuals and others alarmed by what was now to become of the beauty of Paris. They protested with "all our vigor and all our indignation, in the name of French taste and endangered French art and history, against the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower." Perhaps the Eiffel Tower is useless, but isn't beauty always useless? Whether it is truly useless or not, the Eiffel Tower is definitely one of the best known and loved structures in the world and, ironically, it has long been synonymous with French culture and pride, despite what those concerned French intellectuals had to say.

Yes, this "tragic street lamp" and "half built factory pipe" is indeed a modern architectural wonder. Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, it is still the tallest building in Paris and, up until New York's Chrysler Building beat it in 1930, it was also the tallest building in the world. It is not only a beautiful structure to behold; its design still fascinates engineers to this day. Weighing some 7,300 tons (the entire structure including its non-metal components weighs approximately 10,000 tons) and never to exceed a maximum weight of 20,000 tons, the tower actually expands and contracts with the temperature. It may shift in height up to 7 inches do to thermal expansion or contraction and it also sways up to 3 inches in the wind.

Built on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine in 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days, some 200,000,000 visitors have visited the amazing structure after all these many years and its attraction for tourists hasn't diminished a bit. Modern touches also now include beautiful illumination at night, a popular spectacle which now consumes some 7.8 million kWh per year. The Parisian skyline, especially at night, is now quite unthinkable without it.

Other interesting fun facts about this absolute must-see monument: The Eiffel tower stands 324 meters tall, it is held together with 2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 iron parts, it is home to home to dozens of antennas including a television mast that is 79 feet high and it gets painted every 7 years - with 3 shades of brown (the darkest one at the bottom). And most importantly perhaps, the Eiffel Tower is open to visitors 365 days a year.

Sources are the sites:
http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower
http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Eiffel_Tower.html