Eiffel Tower Essay Example

together by 300 workers, utilizing two and a half million rivets based on Maurice Koechlin's structural design.

Eiffel, along with engineers Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin, as well as architect Stephen Sauvestre, designed the tower. Unlike modern high-rises, the tower is a framework without intermediate floors except for two platforms, posing a significant risk of accidents. To address this risk, Eiffel implemented safety measures such as movable stagings, guard-rails, and screens. As a result, only one fatality occurred during construction. The tower was inaugurated on March 31, 1889 and officially opened on May 6. Despite facing heavy public criticism that deemed it unsightly, its construction endured.

In Paris, newspapers received numerous angry letters from the arts community regarding the Eiffel Tower. The tower's pig iron framework, weighing 7,300 tons, is just a fraction of its total weight. When considering non-metal parts, the overall weight reaches approximately 10,000 tons. To demonstrate its efficient design, it is important to mention that if the 7,300 tons of metal were melted down and poured into the tower's base measuring 125 square meters, it would only fill up to a depth of 6 centimeters based on a metal density of 7.8 tons per cubic meter.

The Eiffel Tower's top can move up to 18 cm away from the sun because of thermal expansion. To protect against rust, maintenance includes applying 50 to 60 tons of paint every seven years. The tower's height changes by 15 cm due to temperature fluctuations. To maintain a consistent appearance, three paint colors are used on the tower, with the darkest at the bottom and the lightest at the top.

On occasion, the color of the paint on the

tower is changed and it is currently painted in a shade of bronze. On the first floor, there are interactive consoles that host a poll to determine the color for a future session of painting. The only elements that are not essential to the structure are the four decorative grillwork arches that were added based on Stephen Sauvestre's sketches. These arches serve multiple purposes - they provide reassurance to visitors about the safety of the structure and they also frame views of other nearby architecture. Since its construction in 1889, over 200,000,000 people have visited the tower, with 6,719,200 visitors in 2006 alone. The tower holds the distinction of being the most-visited paid monument in the world.

The tower is home to two restaurants: Le 58 tour Eiffel, located on the first floor 311 ft above sea level; and the Le Jules Verne, a gastronomical restaurant found on the second floor and accessible through a private lift. The latter has been awarded one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007, the renowned chef Alain Ducasse, who has earned multiple Michelin stars, took over the management of Jules Verne. Additionally, for over a century, the tower has served as a radio transmission site, with a set of antenna wires extending from the summit to anchors on the Avenue de Suffren and Champ de Mars until the 1950s, when occasional modifications were made.

In the past, small bunkers were connected to long-wave transmitters. In 1909, a permanent underground radio center was constructed near the south pillar of the Eiffel Tower and it still exists today. On November 20, 1913, uninterrupted wireless signals were exchanged between the

Paris Observatory and the United States Naval Observatory. The Eiffel Tower served as an antenna for the Paris Observatory, while a Virginia antenna in Arlington was utilized by the United States Naval Observatory. These transmissions sought to ascertain the longitude disparity between Paris and Washington, D.C.

The Eiffel Tower currently serves as a transmission hub for radio and TV stations. Back in the early 1980s, there were talks between Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau and French President Charles de Gaulle about temporarily relocating the tower to Montreal for Expo 67. The aim was to turn it into a famous tourist attraction. However, the company responsible for operating the tower had concerns regarding potential opposition from the French government when it came to returning it to its original location.

According to the TV show Pricing the Priceless, in 2011, the construction cost of the Eiffel Tower was around $480,000,000. The land beneath it is valued at $350,000,000 and its estimated scrap worth is $3,500,000. The show estimates that the tower generates an annual profit of about $29,000,000. However, managing the Eiffel Tower likely has goals beyond maximizing profit since it is a globally recognized symbol that has inspired over 30 replicas and similar structures worldwide.