Interesting Facts About Eiffel Tower

When you hear the word "Paris" the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind is Eiffel Tower. It was constructed to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution and to demonstrate France's industrial expertise to the world. It was planned to demolish the tower in 1909 but later called off as the strange tower became popular. Now it functions as a transmitter station.

To get to the top of the Eiffel tower one has to climb 1665 number of steps. During World War II, when Hitler visited Paris the French did cut the cables of the lift so if he wished to get to the top he would have to take the stairs only.

The height of the Eiffel Tower changes depending on the season. It’s is 324 meters on average. Since it is a metallic structure and metal undergoes thermal expansion, in hot summer days its height gets increased by 6.75 inches (17 centimeters).

The tower used to be fully illuminated after dark. Since 2013 tower lights are shut off after 1AM to reduce energy consumption. A huge step towards conservation of energy.

It is illegal to get a night shot of a well illuminated Eiffel tower. You can take as many pictures you want to in the day time. But once all the lights of the tower are switched on you need to take the permission of Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel to take a photo of the night view and distribute the same. It is so because the light show was added in 1985 and it is considered as an artistic work. It is protected by copyright law. Hence the distribution of photos will be an act of violation of the law.

If you are not using the picture for commercial purpose then you are mostly out of trouble. No one has been taken to court over their photo of Eiffel Tower yet! So go take a chance. Have fun clicking pictures for your Instagram feed.