Eiffel Tower

The end of the 19th century marked another golden age for France. The country was at the forefront of economic development and set the trends not only in fashion but also in industrial production technologies. Therefore, it was no surprise that in 1889, France was chosen to host the World Fair, showcasing the latest achievements in various fields of economy and art.

For the entrance of the fair, a striking and memorable structure was needed, one that reflected the modernity and technological advancements of France. Gustave Eiffel, a prominent engineer of that time, decided to participate in the competition.

The tower was designed by Maurice Koechlin and further developed by Émile Nouguier, two senior engineers at Gustave Eiffel's company. The plans for the 300-meter iron tower were submitted for the competition. On September 18, 1884, Gustave Eiffel obtained a patent for the project, which he shared with his colleagues, and later acquired exclusive rights to it.

Among 107 contenders, Eiffel's project became one of the four winners. The engineer then made final modifications to it, striking a balance between the original purely engineering scheme and a decorative approach, ultimately winning the first prize in the competition.

After some debate about the exact location of the tower, a contract was signed on 8 January 1887. Eiffel signed it acting in his own capacity rather than as the representative of his company, the contract granting him 1.5 million francs toward the construction costs. Eiffel established a separate company to manage the tower, putting up half the necessary capital himself. The final construction budget amounted to 7.8 million francs. The tower paid for itself during the period of the exhibition, and its subsequent operation proved to be a very profitable business.

The proposal to construct the Eiffel Tower was met with controversy from those who doubted its feasibility and those who opposed it on artistic grounds. The tower was to be the first structure to reach a height of 300 meters, and many people believed it to be impossible. The objections were rooted in a long-standing debate in France about the relationship between architecture and engineering.

As construction began, a “Committee of Three Hundred” was formed, led by prominent architect Charles Garnier and including influential figures in the arts, such as William-Adolphe Bouguereau, Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod, and Jules Massenet. They sent a petition called “Artists against the Eiffel Tower” to the Minister of Works and Commissioner for the Exposition, Adolphe Alphand. The petition was published by Le Temps on February 14, 1887, in which the signatories protested the “useless and monstrous” tower and predicted that it would “crush” Paris's iconic monuments.

Gustave Eiffel, the tower's designer, responded to the criticisms by comparing the tower to the Egyptian pyramids and asking why something admirable in Egypt would be considered “hideous and ridiculous” in Paris. He also noted that the Champ de Mars was distant enough from the other monuments for the tower not to overwhelm them. Despite the protests, construction on the tower continued.

Some of the protesters changed their minds once the tower was built, but others remained unconvinced. Guy de Maupassant was said to have eaten lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible. However, by 1918, the tower had become a symbol of Paris and France after Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a nationalist poem in the shape of the tower.

The construction work lasted two years, two months, and five days (from January 28, 1887, to March 31, 1889), and was carried out by 300 workers. The record time for erection was facilitated by the extremely high-quality drawings indicating the precise dimensions of 18,038 metal parts, which were assembled using 2.5 million rivets. To finish the tower on schedule, Eiffel mostly used prefabricated parts. None of the prepared beams weighed more than 3 tons, which greatly facilitated the lifting of the metal parts to their designated places. Initially, high cranes were used, and when the structure grew taller than them, the work was taken over by mobile cranes specially designed by Eiffel.

The first elevators on the tower were operated by hydraulic pumps. Until our time, two historic elevators from the company "Fives-Lille," installed in 1899 in the eastern and western pillars of the tower, are still in use. Since 1983, they have been operated by an electric motor, while the hydraulic pumps have been preserved and are available for inspection. The installation of elevators to reach the first level was relatively easy as the legs were wide enough to contain a straight track.

However, installing elevators to the second level was challenging as a straight track was not possible, and no French company was willing to undertake the work due to the fair's charter prohibiting the use of foreign material in the tower's construction. The contract was eventually awarded to the European branch of Otis Brothers & Company, which was confident in its developments and had already started their creation.

The second and third floors of the tower were connected by a vertical elevator, created by engineer Léon Edoux, a classmate of Eiffel at the École Centrale Paris.

The construction of the tower required special attention to the safety of continuous work, which became Eiffel's greatest concern. It is considered that the construction was relatively safe for that time, given the height and complexity of the structure. Gustave Eiffel took measures to ensure the safety of workers, including the use of modern equipment and safety nets. One person died during the construction.

For the excavation of the tower's foundations, due to the proximity of the River Seine, Eiffel resorted to a method he had introduced in bridge construction. Each of the 16 caissons of the foundation contained a working space, into which air was pumped under pressure. Due to the increased pressure, groundwater could not seep in, and workers could excavate and move soil without interference.

One of Eiffel's most challenging problems was the first platform. Massive wooden scaffolds had to support the four inclined supports and the huge beams of the first platform. The four inclined supports rested on sand-filled metal cylinders. The sand could be gradually released, thus setting the supports at the correct angle. Additional hydraulic jacks in the foundations of the supports allowed for the final adjustment of the position of the four inclined supports, which could then be precisely fitted to the iron reinforcement of the first platform.

As soon as the platform was laid horizontally, it was attached to the inclined supports, and the jacks were removed. Then, construction continued on the tower itself. The work progressed slowly but continuously. It aroused surprise and admiration among Parisians who saw the tower growing into the sky.

On March 31, 1889, less than 26 months after the excavation work began, Eiffel was able to invite several physically fit officials to the first ascent of 1,710 steps. The ascent was made by foot since the lifts were not yet operational, and Eiffel stopped frequently to explain various features of the tower during the one-hour climb. Most of the group stopped at lower levels, but a few, including the structural engineer and head of construction, completed the ascent with Eiffel. At 2:35 pm, Eiffel raised a large French flag to the accompaniment of a 25-gun salute fired at the first level.

Although there was still work to be done on the lifts and facilities, the tower opened to the public nine days after the exposition opened on May 6th, though the lifts had not yet been completed. The tower was an instant success, and nearly 30,000 visitors made the 1,710-step climb to the top before the lifts were completed on May 26th. Admission was priced at 2 francs for the first level, 3 francs for the second, and 5 francs for the top, with half-price admission on Sundays. By the end of the exposition, nearly two million visitors had made the climb to the top of the tower.

On the second floor, there was an office and a printing press, where a special souvenir edition was published, and there was also a confectionery. At the top of the tower, there was a post office, where visitors could send letters and postcards as souvenirs. Sheets of paper were attached to the walls so that visitors could record their impressions of the tower.

The tower welcomed many famous visitors, including the Prince of Wales, Sarah Bernhardt, “Buffalo Bill” Cody, and Thomas Edison. Edison presented Eiffel with one of his new phonographs and signed the guestbook with a message expressing his respect and admiration for Eiffel and all engineers.

Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years, and it was to be dismantled in 1909. However, the tower proved valuable for radio telegraphy, and it remained standing after the permit expired. Eiffel used his apartment at the top of the tower to conduct meteorological observations and experiments on the action of air resistance on falling bodies. Additionally, from 1910, the tower became part of the International Time Service.

In October 1898, Eugène Ducretet conducted the first session of telegraphic communication between the Eiffel Tower and the Pantheon, a distance of 4 km apart. In 1903, General Ferrié, a pioneer in the field of wireless telegraphy, used it for his experiments. It so happened that the tower was initially left for military purposes.

From 1906, a radio station was permanently located on the tower. In 1907, six-meter electric clocks were installed on the second floor of the tower, based on the design of the Russian engineer Romainko-Gurko.

Even during its construction, a meteorological laboratory was created on the third tier of the tower. In 1908, the first high-altitude meteorological laboratory was organized on its base. It existed for a long time, and during its operation, a significant amount of statistical data was accumulated.

Over the years, the tower has undergone many changes and renovations. In 1900, the lifts in the east and west legs were replaced by lifts running as far as the second level constructed by the French firm Fives-Lille. At the same time, the lift in the north pillar was removed and replaced by a staircase to the first level.

In 1910, Father Theodor Wulf measured radiant energy at the top and bottom of the tower and found more at the top than expected, incidentally discovering what are known today as cosmic rays. Two years later, on 4 February 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichelt died after jumping from the first level of the tower (a height of 57 meters) to demonstrate his parachute design.

In 1925, illuminated signs for Citroën adorned three of the tower's sides, making it the tallest advertising space in the world at the time. In April 1935, the tower was used to make experimental low-resolution television transmissions, using a shortwave transmitter of 200 watts power. On 17 November, an improved 180-line transmitter was installed.

During the German occupation, the lift mechanism of the Eiffel Tower was deliberately damaged just before Adolf Hitler's visit in 1940. Due to the war, it was impossible to repair the lift. Visiting Paris, Hitler was unable to reach the top of the tower. However, a few hours after the liberation of Paris, the lift mechanism was again operational.

In August 1944, as the Allies approached Paris, Hitler ordered Lieutenant General Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of the Greater Paris district and head of the garrison, to destroy the Eiffel Tower along with other city landmarks. However, von Choltitz did not obey the order.

In 1964, the Eiffel Tower was officially declared a historical monument by the Minister of Cultural Affairs, André Malraux. In 1982, the original lifts between the second and third levels were replaced after 97 years in service.

The weight of the Eiffel Tower's puddle iron, also known as wrought iron, is 7,300 tonnes. However, with the addition of lifts, shops, and antennae, the total weight has increased to approximately 10,100 tonnes. Despite its massive weight, the tower's design showcases remarkable efficiency. For instance, if the 7,300 tonnes of metal in the structure were melted down, it would only fill the square base, which is 125 meters on each side, to a depth of 6.25 centimeters. This calculation assumes that the metal's density is 7.8 tonnes per cubic meter. Moreover, a cubic box encompassing the tower, measuring 324 meters × 125 meters × 125 meters, would contain 6,200 tonnes of air, almost equivalent to the weight of the iron itself. Finally, due to the thermal expansion of the metal on the side facing the sun, the top of the tower may shift up to 18 centimeters away from the sun, depending on the ambient temperature.

Throughout its existence, the color of the Eiffel Tower's paint has changed multiple times, ranging from yellow to red-brown. In recent decades, it has been consistently painted in what is known as "Eiffel Tower brown" – an officially patented color, similar to the natural shade of bronze.

To prevent rusting, the Eiffel Tower undergoes maintenance, which involves the application of 60 tons of paint every seven years. Since its construction, the tower has been completely repainted at least 19 times.

Since its completion in 1889, over 300 million people have visited the Eiffel Tower. In 2015, there were 6.91 million visitors, and it is currently the most-visited paid monument globally. On average, approximately 25,000 individuals ascend the tower daily, which can lead to long queues.

The Eiffel Tower boasts two restaurants, Le 58 Tour Eiffel, located on the first level, and Le Jules Verne, a gourmet restaurant with its lift on the second level. The latter has earned one Michelin star and was managed by renowned chef Alain Ducasse from 2007 to 2017. Since May 2019, it has been under the management of Frédéric Anton, a three-star chef. The restaurant owes its name to the famous science-fiction writer Jules Verne. Additionally, there is a champagne bar located at the tower's top.

Upon its completion in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest structure, a title it held for 40 years until the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed in 1929. Subsequently, the tower also lost its position as the world's tallest tower to the Tokyo Tower in 1958. However, it remains the tallest freestanding (non-guyed) structure in France.