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One
of the seven wonders of the modern world, the Eiffel Tower is an
imposing tower located on the left bank of the River Seine in Paris.
It is an early example of wrought iron construction on a gigantic
scale. The lower section of the tower consists of four immense
arched legs that are set on masonry piers. The legs curve inward
until they unite in a single tapered tower. There are platforms at
three levels and on each platform there is an observation deck.
Interestingly, there is a restaurant on the first level. A
meteorological station, a radio communications station and a
television transmission antenna, as well as a suite of rooms that
were used by Eiffel, are located near the top of the tower. There
are stairs and elevators to reach the different levels. |
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The tower,
constructed of about 6300 metric tons (about 7100 tons) of
iron in 18,000 parts, is held together by 2,500,000 rivets. It
is considered so light that a one feet high scale model would
weigh only seven grams! It soars into the sky, rising to a
height of 300 meters or 984 feet (excluding its modern
broadcasting antennae) and continues to dominate the Paris
skyline.
The tower bears
the name of the genius behind it, Gustave Alexandre Eiffel, a
French engineer and builder. Eiffel was born in Paris in 1832.
He belonged to a family of artisans and timber and coal
merchants. He was educated at the Lycée Royal in Dijon and the
College Sainte Barbe in Paris. He graduated from the École
Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in 1855 and later joined a
company that produced steam engines. |
The Eiffel Tower |
In the year 1858, the
company was granted a contract to erect a railway bridge in
Bordeaux. Eiffel oversaw the construction with such success that in
1866 he founded his own company and soon became known for his
wrought iron structures. The year 1872 proved to be a very good one
for him, with foreign contracts falling into his lap. In 1877, he
erected a steel arch bridge (160 meters in height) over the Douro
River in Porto (Oporto), Portugal. Eiffel’s work combined expert
craftsmanship and graceful design, qualities that are evident in the
Garabit viaduct in France. Completed in 1884, it was for a time the
highest bridge in the world, winning Eiffel's factory a world wide
reputation for excellence. It was Gustave Alexandre Eiffel who
engineered the New York version of Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi's
colossal statue, Liberty Enlightening the World, or the
Statue of Liberty. The statue was a gift from France to commemorate
the birth of the United States.
Soon after, Eiffel began
work on his greatest project, the building of the Eiffel Tower, one
of the greatest constructions in history. It
was completed in 1889 for the celebration of the centennial of the
French Revolution (1789-1799). Its revolutionary lattice work earned
Eiffel the nickname, “the magician of iron”. In the early 1890s,
Eiffel gave up the daily management of his business and became
absorbed in the new science of aerodynamics. He died in the year
1923.
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