Eiffel Tower (La tour Eiffel) description and photos - France: Paris (Topic)

La tour Eiffel description and photos - France: Paris. Detailed information about the attraction. Description, photographs and a map showing the nearest significant objects. The title in English is La tour Eiffel.

Photo and description

The Eiffel Tower is a symbol of Paris, its silhouette is visible from almost everywhere. Thousands of tourists come here every day. But this was not always the case.

The steel tower on the Champ de Mars is a monument to the daring of the 19th century. In the second half of the century, France, demonstrating its technological leadership, held a number of world exhibitions. For the exhibition in 1889, it was decided to erect an unprecedented, tallest building in the world in the center of Paris.

107 projects were nominated for the competition. The winner was presented by the engineer Gustave Eiffel: a graceful metal structure over 300 meters high, inscribed on the ground in a square with a side of 125 meters. In fairness, it must be said that the original design of the tower was developed by engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emil Nugier, while Eiffel bought out their patent. However, his talent left an indelible mark on the appearance of the structure.

Construction lasted two years, the number of workers at the construction site never exceeded two hundred and fifty. The factories produced more than 18 thousand forged iron parts; more than a million special rivets were used to assemble them. During the construction, the only worker died - he decided to show his bride how great he keeps his balance at height.

The steel tower weighing 7 thousand tons became the highlight of the World Exhibition of 1889: in the first week, while the elevators were not working, about 30 thousand people climbed to a height of three hundred meters on foot. In those days, two million visitors were registered here. However, at the end of the exhibition, interest in the tower dropped, reviving only after the Second World War.

The erection of a steel monster in the center of the capital provoked an unusually sharp negative reaction from the French intelligentsia. In 1887, Alexandre Dumas-son, Charles Gounod, Sally Prudhomme - fifty creators who made France famous - publicly opposed the "useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower." Guy de Maupassant called her “skeleton.”

But gradually the controversy subsided. In terms of benefits, it was at the Eiffel Tower that experiments with wireless communications began in 1898. During the First World War, a strategically important transmitter for France worked here; since 1920, civilian radio stations have also received access to the tower. Five years later, experimental television broadcasting began from here. The tower is now one of the largest antennas in Europe, delivering signals to 10 million people.

The unique silhouette of the Tour-Eiffel is captured on the canvases of Rousseau, Signac, Marche, Utrillo, Chagall. In 1925, a fraudster, taking advantage of press reports about the possible demolition of the tower, managed to sell it to a gullible buyer "for spare parts." In 1944, American fighter pilot William Overstreet flew in his Mustang under steel arches and shot down a Nazi Messer. In 1996, climber Alain Robert climbed to the top of a steel mountain without any adaptations.

The tower has become a romantic legend, lovers strive for it, from its observation platforms one can see the unhurried Seine in full view, lush palaces boiling with life quarters. And there is no place in Paris more Parisian than the Eiffel Tower.

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Topic: Eiffel Tower (La tour Eiffel) description and photos - France: Paris.