The Eiffel Tower (Paris, 1887-1889)

I am spending a weekend in Paris, and today I went for a stroll through the entire city. Everybody knows that Paris' most iconic site is the Eiffel Tower, so I believe it is an excellent subject to talk abou today. 

The Eiffel Tower was built in Paris between 1887 and 1889, by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose name he gave to the Tower. It is a 330 meters high structure made of iron and is, til today, Paris' highest structure. It was originally built as the center piece of the 1889 World's Fair and also to mark a hundred years since the French Revolution. In the first place, it was highly criticized by the french and tourists, but it quickly became one of the most famous buildings in the world.

 

IRON

The Eiffel Tower, as mentionned previously is made of iron, particullarly, puddle iron. This material gives the structure the weight of 7300 tonnes, without counting the later added elevators, shops, etc.

It is also very important to realize that at thta time, iron was a material recently introduced and iron structures had not been common before that. The iron industry started to develop itself thanks to the Industrial Revolution. What made this possible were the new processes to create higher amounts of iron every year, like puddling which was the technique used for the Eiffel Tower.

The tower was a controversial subject for a very long time, because of its design. Some people thought it was not a realistic project to work on and others criticized how it looks. At the time, no structure had surpassed 200 meters, let alone 300 meters, for that reason many people did not believe it could be built. It's only after the War of 1918 that the tower became a symbol of France and recognised by everyone. 

CONSEQUENCES

Originally, Eiffel had a permit to let the tower stand for only 20 years. In 1909, the city was meant to tare it down as one of the contest's rules was that any tower should be easy to take down. However, with time, the Eiffel Tower became too valuable to take down. Sine 2003, the tower has had about 7 million visitors every year. For its maintenance, evry 7 years, 60 tons of paint are added to the tower , and that is why it has had this many different colours since its inauguration. 

To conclude, the Eiffel Tower is now one of the most remarkable
buildings in the world. It can be seen from almost any spot in Paris and is today a symbol to represent the city. It also made many other technological advances possible, since people saw that building an iron structure this high was not impossible, like they thought. Nowadays, we can not even imagine the city of Paris without the Eiffel Tower in it!! 

What do you Think?? Have you ever been to Paris? Have you ever seen the Eiffel Tower in real life? Let us know in the comments!!