When I first stood under the Eiffel tower as a kid, I realized that it was not a two dimensional figure made up of matchsticks like I always imagined it to be, but a sprawling mass of metal that stands as evidence to man's achievements in architecture.
The tower which opened in May 1889 and named after its engineer Gustave Eiffel, is the tallest building in Paris. While there is no dearth of photographs clicked, here are a few lesser known albeit interesting facts about Eiffel.
- Including the 24 m antenna, the Eiffel tower is 325 m or 81 stories high. It was the tallest structure in the world until 1930 when the Chrysler building was opened in New York.
- I could be forgiven for thinking that the tower would sway and be toppled over by winds onto my head. Fact is that the tower does sway, about 6-7 cm in the wind, too little to be caught in action by the naked eye.
- The construction of the tower took 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days, and due to the safety precautions taken, only one man died.
- Eiffel tower had a permit to stand for 20 years after which it would have been dismantled and used as scrap metal. But it was saved by turning it into a radio transmission center.
- Of the 7.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity used annually, 580,000 are used exclusively to illuminate the tower. The tower also requires the use of 2 tons of paper for tickets, 4 tons of rag or paper wipes, 10,000 applications of detergents, 400 liters of metal cleansers and 25,000 garbage bags annually.
- It is the most visited paid monument in the world with millions of people visiting it every year.
- The design of the tower is so economical that if the Eiffel tower were to be melted what would be left of it, at the 125 square meter base is only a 6cm deep puddle of molten metal.
- About 50 to 60 tons of paint are used on the tower every seven years in order to protect it from rust and weather elements. It was painted 6 different colors during its lifetime, each a shade of brown. The painting even today is done using brushes.
- The tower has two restaurants, Altitude 95 on the first floor and a more expensive Jules Verne on the second floor.
When it was first built, there was a lot of criticism from the public; many people called it an eyesore. But it has now grown into a modern marvel that people flock to every year to be awed by its enormity and sheer presence.