The Eiffel Tower is located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France, and is the Eiffel Tower is one of the most well known structures in the world. The French name for the Eiffel Tower is La Tour Eiffel, it also has the nickname La dame de fer which means the iron lady.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair to celebrate the 100th anniversary of French Republic. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel led the team that developed the plans. He also designed the metal framework of another landmark, the Statue of Liberty.
Post card of the tower.
Construction began in February 1887. The base pillars are oriented with the four points of the compass. Base is 410 feet x 410 feet. There are 132 workers assembled 18,000 parts on side. There are 2.5 million rivets connected all the iron pieces. The construction time too about 2 years, 2 months, 5 days. It was the world's tallest structure for 40 years, until 1929. The original height is 1023 feet. After the construction of Chrysler Building in New York City, which the height is 1047 feet, the Eiffel Tower had added the high with the current height is 1063 feet. That's twice as high as the Great Pyramid at Giza.
The Eiffel Tower is made of iron and the total weight is equal to 10,100 tonnes. The elevators travel on a curve with an angle of 60 degrees. The tower gets a new coat of paint every 7 years, it took 60 tonnes or about 12,000 gallons of paint to paint all the building. The tower was lit by gaslights until 1909. Today, it is illuminated by 336 spotlights. The tower can sway up to 5 inches in heavy wind. As iron expands in heat, it leans away from the sun-up to 7 inches. The tower relayed zeppelin alerts in World War I and coded messages sent by Nazis in World War II. Today, it is still a vital communications link.
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