La Tour Eiffel: “The Eiffel Tower” in French!
- The Eiffel Tower is a steel framework tower located in Paris, France.
- The Eiffel Tower is named after Gustave Eiffel who was an engineer and owned the company that built the tower.
- The Eiffel Tower is the largest structure in Paris, but not in France, standing 320 meters (1,050 feet) in height which is approximately the height of an 81 storey building. It weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes.
- The Eiffel Tower saw 7.1 million visitors in 2011, and it is the most popular ticketed monument in the world. It had seen 250 million visitors by 2010.
- The Eiffel Tower has three floors and nine elevators.
Eiffel Tower
Image courtesy of Matt Banks/ Free Digital Photos
- The Eiffel Tower construction started in 1887 and was finished in 1889. The grand opening was on the 31st of March 1889, and was made for the World Fair that year.
- 300 workers were first hired to construct the Eiffel Tower and during the two years of construction, there was only one worker death.
- The names of 72 male French scientists and engineers, as well as other notable people, were first engraved on the Eiffel Tower when it was built. The names were painted over in the 20th century, and were then restored in 1986 – 1987.
- Every seven years, the Eiffel Tower is painted over with 50-60 tonnes of paint to prevent rust.
- The Eiffel Tower is the home of two restaurants: Le 58 Tour Eiffel and Le Jules Verne and at the top is a broadcaster for television and radio.
Bibliography:
Eiffel Tower January 2013, Wikipedia, <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eiffel_Tower>
