Wednesday 14 August 2013

Paris Attractions - Reviews of Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower, or because the French call it “Tour Eiffel”, is a Parisian landmark and something of the most famous Paris attractions that was also a technological masterpiece in building-construction history. In 1889, once the French government was organizing the International Exposition to celebrate the centenary from the French Revolution,

they held a contest for designs for a suitable monument to mark the occasion. A lot more than 100 plans were received for entry and also the Centennial Committee ended up accepting those of the noted bridge engineer Gustav Eiffel.

Mr. Eiffel’s idea of a 984-foot (300-metre) tower which would be built almost entirely of open-lattice wrought iron caused amazement, skepticism, far more of opposition on aesthetic grounds. However when completed, the Eiffel tower was the doorway gateway to the exposition.


Nothing even near to the Eiffel Tower had ever been built before; it had been twice the height of the dome of St. Peter’s in Rome and also the Great Pyramid of Giza. As opposed to those older monuments, the tower only took 2 yrs to erect (1887-89), with a far lesser work force and at very little cost with that said.

Drawing from his advanced knowledge (designing bridges) from the behavior of how metal arches and metal truss form under loading, he developed a light, airy, yet strong structure that caused a revolution in civil engineering and architectural design. Following the Eiffel Tower opened to the public on March 31, 1889, it entirely vindicated itself of all aesthetic concerns.

The Tour Eiffel stands upon four lattice-girder piers which taper inward and join to create a single large vertical tower. The piers are linked to each other by networks of girders at two levels which afford viewing platforms for tourists. The 4 semicircular arches which can be seen in the tower’s base are purely aesthetic factors that serve no structural function. Due to their unique shape, which was dictated partly by engineering considerations but additionally from Eiffel’s artistic sense, the piers required elevators to climb on the curve; the glass-cage machines created by the United States’ Otis Elevator Company became among the noted features of the building, helping create among the world’s premier tourist attractions.

The actual tower is 300 meters (984 feet) high. It sits on the base which is 5 meters (17 feet) high, and there's a television antenna a the top tower which gives it a complete elevation of 324 meters (1,063 feet). The Eiffel Tower, when erected, was the tallest man-made structure on the planet until when the Chrysler Building was topped off in Nyc in 1929. tab=History The Eiffel Tower was constructed between 1887 and 1889 because the entrance piece for the Exposition Universelle, the earth's Fair which marked the centennial celebration from the French Revolution. Three hundred workers come up with 18,038 pieces of puddled iron (a really pure form of structural iron), exceeding two and a half million rivets, in a structural that was designed by Gustav Eiffel. Eiffel’s assistants on the project were engineers Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin in addition to architect Stephen Sauvestre. Unlike modern skyscrapers, since the tower is an open frame with no intermediate floors except the 2 platforms, there was great risk for that workers. But thanks to the great precautions Eiffel took towards safety, such as the use of movable staging, guard-rails and screens, throughout the two years, only one man died. The towers inauguration happened on 31 March 1889, also it opened on May 6 that year.

The tower received a lot of public criticism when it was built, with lots of Parisians calling it an eyesore. Newspapers at that time were filled with many angry letters in the arts community of Paris. The first is actually quoted extensively in William Watson's Government Printing Office publication of 1892 Paris Universal Exposition: Civil Engineering, Public Works, and Architecture: "And during two decades we shall see, stretching within the entire city, still thrilling using the genius of so many centuries, we shall see stretches like a black blot the odious shadow from the odious column built up of riveted iron plates.” Signers of the letter included the likes of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, Charles Gounod, Charles Garnier, Jean-Léon Gérôme, William-Adolphe Bouguereau, and Alexandre Dumas.

Interestingly, the Novelist Guy de Maupassant, who said he hated the tower, supposedly ate lunch within the Tower's restaurant daily and when asked why; his answer was it's the one beautiful city of Paris where he could escape viewing structure. Today however, the Eiffel Tower is unanimously regarded as a great piece of structural art and it is one of the first things which comes to mind when it comes to the city of Paris.

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