Tour Eiffel
MonumentHidden Treasure
Tour Eiffel, located in Paris, Île-de-France, is a medieval landmark built in the Middle Ages. The monument is currently closed to visitors.
Key facts
- Type
- autre
- Period
- Medieval (11th-15th century)
- Location
- Paris, Île-de-France
- Visit
- Closed to visitors
An absolute icon of Paris and French engineering, the Eiffel Tower towers 330 metres above the Champ-de-Mars. A masterpiece of nineteenth-century engineering, it remains the most visited monument in the world.
© Wikimedia Commons / Wikipedia
History
There are human works that transcend their era to become universal symbols. The Eiffel Tower is one of these. Erected between 1887 and 1889 on the Champ-de-Mars, on the banks of the Seine, it was designed as the monumental entrance to the 1889 Universal Exhibition, celebrating the centenary of the French Revolution. Ironically nicknamed the "Iron Lady" by her contemporaries, over the decades it has become the emblem par excellence of Paris and France as a whole. What distinguishes the Eiffel Tower from all other monuments is its unprecedented fusion of technical prowess and aesthetic sensibility. Gustave Eiffel and his engineers - led by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier - solved the challenges posed by the construction of a 7,300-tonne structure of puddled iron with astonishing elegance. The basket-handle arches of the base, the curved pillars converging towards the sky and the lacework of riveted beams evoke an almost ethereal lightness, paradoxical for such a colossal mass of metal. The tour is divided into three levels open to the public. The first floor, at 57 metres, houses an immersive museum space and a striking glass floor that plunges the visitor's gaze down to the gardens below. The second floor, at 115 metres, offers a 360° panoramic view over the whole of the Paris basin, while the top floor - at a height of 276 metres - provides access to Gustave Eiffel's recreated office and a gentle vertigo over the horizon. When night comes, the 20,000 LED bulbs in the nocturnal glitter transform the structure into a luminous score that pulses for five minutes every hour. The setting itself plays a part in the story. The Champ-de-Mars, a former military field converted into a vast green esplanade, offers the perspective needed to appreciate the monumentality of the Iron Lady. From the Trocadero or the banks of the Seine, the viewpoints are multiplied, making each walk a new discovery. The tower is set in a district rich in cultural institutions - the Musée du quai Branly, the École Militaire, Les Invalides - that invite you to extend your day.
Architecture
The Eiffel Tower is a masterpiece of nineteenth-century industrial architecture, representing the apogee of the wrought-iron structural style typical of the era of the great world exhibitions. Its design is based on the principle of a metal lattice - puddled iron is preferred to steel for its resistance to corrosion and its malleability - assembled by two and a half million rivets. The geometry of the structure is not arbitrary: the curves of the four pillars precisely follow the mathematical equations that optimise wind resistance, ensuring remarkable stability despite its height. The square base measures 125 metres on each side. The four legs rest on special foundations equipped with hydraulic jacks for millimetric plumb adjustment. The structure rises in three separate storeys: the first at 57 metres, the second at 115 metres and the third at 276 metres, topped by a spire that brings the total to 330 metres (including the antennae). Stephen Sauvestre enriched the technical silhouette with decorative elements of eclectic inspiration: cast-iron arches linking the pillars to the base, balconies with elaborate railings, ornamental pediments on the first floor that temper the industrial rigour of the whole. The colour of the tower - an orangey brown dubbed "Tour Eiffel brown" - is the result of meticulous maintenance: every seven years or so, sixty tonnes of paint are applied by hand by a team of mountaineering painters. The night-time lighting, inaugurated in its current form in 1985, is the work of Pierre Bideau: 336 sodium spotlights bathe the structure in golden light, sublimating the metal lacework as night falls.
Related Figures
Gustave Eiffel — ingénieur et entrepreneur, maître d'ouvrage et concepteur principal de la tour qui porte son nomMaurice Koechlin — ingénieur en chef du bureau Eiffel, auteur des premiers croquis conceptuels de la structureÉmile Nouguier — ingénieur co-concepteur aux côtés de Koechlin, à l'origine des calculs structurels fondamentauxStephen Sauvestre — architecte responsable du traitement esthétique et décoratif de la tourAdolphe Salles — chef de chantier ayant supervisé les 300 ouvriers permanents pendant les vingt-six mois de constructionGustave Citroën — industriel qui couvrit la tour de publicités lumineuses entre 1925 et 1934Guy de Maupassant — écrivain et figure de la pétition des artistes opposés à la construction de la tour en 1887
Map
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Frequently Asked Questions
Where is Tour Eiffel located?
Tour Eiffel is located in Paris, Île-de-France region, France.
When was Tour Eiffel built?
Tour Eiffel dates back to a period built in the Middle Ages (11th-15th century).
Is Tour Eiffel open to visitors?
Tour Eiffel is currently closed to visitors.