The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, France,was built as a temporary structure for the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in 1889. The Tower was popular that it has been there ever since.

• Engineer Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) also built the frame work of statue of  liberty. A work force of  300 steel workers completed the tower in two years, two months and five days.
• The Eiffel Tower contains 18038 pieces of steel Weighing a total of 7175 tonnes. They are connected by 2.5 million rivets.
• The tower's 220,000 sq m (2368060sq ft) of surface are hand-painted every ten years (last in 2003) with sixty tonnes of paint.
• The tower is 300.5 m (986 ft) tall -320.8 m (1052 ft) with its antenna - but it can expand or shrink by up to 15 cm (6 in) depending on how hot or cold it is. It was the world tallest structure until the Chrysler Building in New York overtook it in 1930.
• The tower is lit by 3521,000-watt projectors and 20000 lights (installed in 2003). These are switched on after dusk for the first ten minutes of every hour.
• More than 200 million people have visited the tower. Most take the lifts, although there are 1,665 steps for every energetic. It also attracts publicity-seeking climbers. Bird men, parachutists and even cyclists have made descents- some of  them fatal.
• The Eiffel Tower features in many films, including the James Bond film A View to a kill (1985)

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