THE EIFFEL TOWER
This is, without doubt, one of the most recognizable structures in the world. Weighing in at 7,000 tons but exerting about the same pressure on the ground as an average-size person sitting in a chair, the wrought-iron tower wasn't meant to stick around. Gustave-Alexandre Eiffel, the French engineer, built it for the 1889 Universal Exhibition. Praised by some and denounced by others (some called it a "giraffe," the "world's greatest lamppost," or the "iron monster"), the tower created as much controversy in the 1880s as I. M. Pei's glass pyramid at the Louvre did in the 1980s. Surprisingly, what saved it from demolition was the advent of radio -- as the tallest structure in Europe, it made a perfect spot to place a radio antenna (now a TV antenna). The tower, including its TV antenna, is 317m (1,040 ft.) high and on a clear day you can see it from 64km (40 miles) away. We could fill an entire page with tower statistics. (Its plans spanned 6,000 square yards of paper, and it contains 2.5 million rivets.) But forget the numbers. Just stand beneath the tower and look straight up. It's like a rocket of steel lacework shooting into the sky. Of course, it's the view most people come for, and this extends for 64km (40 miles), theoretically (weather conditions tend to limit it). Nevertheless, it's fabulous, and the best time for visibility is about an hour before sunset.
|
