Eiffel Tower: The Most Visited "Wonder Of The World"

Our world is so beautiful. Besides this natural beauty, there are some manmade heavenly beauties. We call it the seven wonders of the world. Out of these seven wonders, the most visited and one of the insane production of the human beings is none other than Eiffel Tower, which is located in Paris. It is a wrought-iron lattice tower and it's popular just because of it’s elegant design and structure which makes its stand out from the rush of any other monuments in the world. You can actually go in with an elevator or also climb your way up and get an insane view of Paris and hundreds of kilometers around Paris. It is a phallic construction and yet retains feminine attributes.

Location and Configuration:

“I ought to be jealous of the tower. She is more famous than I am.”

– Engineer Gustave Eiffel
The line resembles the popularity of the tower in front of the world. And Mr. Gustave Eiffel is none other than the constructor, or in other words the creator of the great monument Eifffel Tower. Hence the tower was named Eiffel after Engineer, Gustave Eiffel.

Eiffel tower, one of the seven wonders is located on the Camp de Mars in Paris. The tower is 324 meters tall and is the tallest tower in Paris where as the second tallest tower in France. The tower has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The upper platform of the top level is 276 m (906 ft) above the ground. Tickets can be purchased to ascend by stairs or lift to the first and second levels. The climb from ground level to the first level is over 300 steps. There is a staircase to the top level, but it is usually accessible only by lift. Gustave Eiffel engraved on the tower the names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians in recognition of their contributions to the building of the tower.

History:

Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier are the two senior engineers, who were responsible for the drawing of such an elegant design of the Eiffel tower. The construction was started on 28th January 1887. The main structural work was completed on 31st march 1889. It took nearly two years to land the design on the soil but there was still work to be done, particularly on the lifts and facilities and the tower was not opened to the public; until nine days after the opening of the exposition on 6 May even then, the lifts had not been completed. But it had an instant success and at the end nearly 18 lacks people visited the exhibition.

Eiffel had a permit for the tower to stand for 20 years. It was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris. The City had planned to tear it down but as the tower proved to be valuable for communication purposes, it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit.

Present Status:

Over 250 million people have already visited the tower after its completion. The tower was the most visited paid monument in the world. As one of the most iconic landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower has been the inspiration for the creation of many replicas and similar towers. As example – The Tokyo tower in japan was inspired by the Eiffel tower and it is used as a communication tower.

Now-a-days radio and digital television signals are transmitted from the Eiffel tower.
At last but not the least, Eiffel Tower is the revolunary construction, which inspires the engineers till date.