When Gustave Eiffel’s company built Paris’ most
recognizable monument for the 1889 World’s Fair, many regarded the massive iron
structure with skepticism. Today, the Eiffel Tower, which continues to serve an
important role in television and radio broadcasts, is considered an
architectural wonder and attracts more visitors than any other paid tourist
attraction in the world.
DESIGNING AND BUILDING THE EIFFEL TOWER
In 1889, Paris hosted an Exposition Universelle (World’s
Fair) to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution.
More than 100 artists submitted competing plans for a monument to be built on
the Champ-de-Mars, located in central Paris, and serve as the exposition’s
entrance. The commission was granted to Eiffel et Compagnie, a consulting and
construction firm owned by the acclaimed bridge builder, architect and metals
expert Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel. While Eiffel himself often receives full
credit for the monument that bears his name, it was one of his employees—a
structural engineer named Maurice Koechlin—who came up with and fine-tuned the
concept. Several years earlier, the pair had collaborated on the Statue of
Liberty’s metal armature.
Eiffel reportedly rejected Koechlin’s original plan for the
tower, instructing him to add more ornate flourishes. The final design called
for more than 18,000 pieces of puddle iron, a type of wrought iron used in
construction, and 2.5 million rivets. Several hundred workers spent two years
assembling the framework of the iconic lattice tower, which at its inauguration
in March 1889 stood nearly 1,000 feet high and was the tallest structure in the
world—a distinction it held until the completion of New York City’s
Chrysler Building in 1930. (In 1957, an antenna was added that increased the
structure’s height by 65 feet, making it taller than the Chrysler Building but
not the Empire State Building, which had surpassed its neighbor in 1931.)
Initially, only the Eiffel Tower’s second-floor platform was open to the
public; later, all three levels, two of which now feature restaurants, would be
reachable by stairway or one of eight elevators.
Millions of visitors during and after the World’s Fair
marveled at Paris’ newly erected architectural wonder. Not all of the city’s
inhabitants were as enthusiastic, however: Many Parisians either feared it was
structurally unsound or considered it an eyesore. The novelist Guy de
Maupassant, for example, allegedly hated the tower so much that he often ate
lunch in the restaurant at its base, the only vantage point from which he could
completely avoid glimpsing its looming silhouette.
THE EIFFEL TOWER BECOMES A PERMANENT FEATURE OF THE PARIS
SKYLINE
Originally intended as a temporary exhibit, the Eiffel
Tower was almost torn down and scrapped in 1909. City officials opted to save
it after recognizing its value as a radiotelegraph station. Several years
later, during World
War I, the Eiffel Tower intercepted enemy radio communications, relayed
zeppelin alerts and was used to dispatch emergency troop reinforcements. It
escaped destruction a second time during World War II: Hitler
initially ordered the demolition of the city’s most cherished symbol, but the
command was never carried out. Also during the German occupation of Paris,
French resistance fighters famously cut the Eiffel Tower’s elevator cables so
that the Nazis had to climb the stairs.
Over the years, the Eiffel Tower has been the site of
numerous high-profile stunts, ceremonial events and even scientific
experiments. In 1911, for instance, the German physicist Theodor Wulf used an
electrometer to detect higher levels of radiation at its top than at its base,
observing the effects of what are now called cosmic rays. The Eiffel Tower has
also inspired more than 30 replicas and similar structures in various cities
around the world.
Now one of the most recognizable structures on the planet,
the Eiffel Tower underwent a major facelift in 1986 and is repainted every
seven years. It welcomes more visitors than any other paid monument in the
world—an estimated 7 million people per year. Some 500 employees are
responsible for its daily operations, working in its restaurants, manning its
elevators, ensuring its security and directing the eager crowds flocking the
tower’s platforms to enjoy panoramic views of the City of Lights.
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