Of the most instantly-recognizable icons in the world, this iron tower created by Gustave Eiffel is the tallest structure in Paris and an emblem of romance, international intrigue and relaxing stays in one of the world’s most beautiful cities. More below!
The Eiffel Tower was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch for the “Universal Exposition”, a World's Fair celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution. Principally designed by Gustave Eiffel, co-architects were Emile Nouguier, Maurice Koechlin and Stephen Sauvestre. The tower was originally planned by Eiffel for Canada’s Universal Exposition of 1888, but it was rejected. Inaugurated in 1889, it was assembled by no less than three hundred workers, who built it from more than 18,000 pieces of structural iron, using more than two million rivets.
When it was first built the tower was met with resistance from the public. Many called it an eyesore. (The novelist Guy de Maupassant, who was vocal about hating the tower, supposedly ate every lunch at the Tower's restaurant. When asked why, he answered: “Because it is the one place in Paris where I can’t see it”.)
Today, the Eiffel Tower is one of the most recognized structures in the world. Since its creation more than 200,000,000 visitors have paid to visit, making it the single most visited paid monument in the world. It is 324 m (1,063 ft) high, roughly equal to 81 floors in a modern skyscraper. Choose from our selection of apartments rental paris and see it for yourself.
In the latter half of the 19th century it replaced the Washington Monument as the world's tallest structure, and remained so until 1930 when New York’s Chrysler Building was completed. The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse, although that title will soon be surpassed by AXA Tower. Your long term apartment rental Paris lets you see all of these wonderful monuments.
The Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tons and may shift away from the sun by up to 18 cm (7 in) due to thermal expansion of the metal on sun-facing metal. The tower also sways 6-7 cm (2-3 in) in the wind. The uppermost observation deck, with a height of 275 meters, is the highest area of an architectural structure in the European Union open for the public. The view overlooks the charming neighborhoods that contain so many Paris apartments for rent short term for those who wish to taste real Parisian life.
The tower has been used for radio transmission since the beginning of the 20th century. Until the 1950s, an occasionally modified set of antenna wires ran from the summit to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars, connected to long-wave transmitters in bunkers. In 1909, a permanent underground radio center was built near the south pillar, which still exists today. On November 20, 1913 the Paris Observatory exchanged sustained wireless signals with the United States Naval Observatory using the Eiffel Tower as an antenna, to reach an antenna in Arlington, Virginia. The object was to measure the difference in longitude between Paris and Washington, DC.
The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor (95 m, 311 ft, above sea level); and the Jules Verne, a world-famous restaurant on the second floor, with a private elevator.
In 1902, the tower was struck by lightning. 100 m (330 ft) of the top had to be reconstructed. In 1925, con artist Victor Lustig twice "sold" the tower for scrap metal. Live history from your Paris apartment rental Tour Eiffel. In 1930, the tower lost the title of the world's tallest structure when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York City. From 1925 to 1934, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's four sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time.
In 1957 the present radio antenna was added to the top. In the 1980s an old restaurant and its supporting iron scaffolding midway up the tower was dismantled and reconstructed on St. Charles Avenue in New Orleans. The restaurant was re-assembled from 11,000 pieces that crossed the Atlantic in a 40-foot cargo container. Originally known as the Tour Eiffel Restaurant, it is now known as the Red Room.
The first and second levels are accessible by stairs and lifts. A ticket booth at the south tower base sells tickets for the stairs. At the first platform the stairs continue up from the east tower and the third level summit is only accessible by elevator. Once you are on the first or second platform the stairs are open for anyone to ascend or descend regardless of whether you have purchased a lift ticket or stair ticket.
Maintenance of the tower includes 50 to 60 tons of three graded tones of paint every seven years to protect it from rust. On occasion the color of the paint is changed. At present, the tower is painted a shade that resembles a brownish bronze. In actuality, the tower is painted three different shades, with the colors changing from dark to light from top to bottom. This creates an optical effect that makes the tower appear to be the same uniform color to an observer on the ground.
Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. Originally the City planned to tear it down in 1909. In fact, a prerequisite for its design according to the original contest rules was something that be easily demolished. However, as the tower later proved invaluable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain when the permit expired. The military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line during the First Battle of the Marne, and it therefore became a victory statue of that battle.
