The Eiffel Tower (French: La Tour Eiffel, IPA pronunciation: "EYE-full" English; "eh-FEHL" French) is a famous landmark in Paris. It was built between 1887 and 1889 for the Exposition Universialle (World Fair). The Tower was the Exposition's main attraction.
The eiffel tower cost 7,799,401.31 french gold francs to build in 1889, an amount equal to $1,495,139.89 at that time. Today, it’s cost would equal $36,784,020.11. It is 300 metres (984 ft.) tall, but this height does not include the 24 m (79 ft.) aerial (antenna) on the top; the total height of the structure is 324 m (1,063 feet). It has a square base that is 100m (328 ft.) long on each side. The second story platform is 115.5 meters (379 ft.) off the ground.
There are also 1,710 steps inside the Eiffel Tower, although visitors can only climb the fist 704 steps to the first floor. In total, the tower weighs 10,000 tons, 7,300 of which are wrought iron. It consists of 18,038 pieces and 2.5 million rivets put on by heat. The weight of paint used is 60 tons (12,000 gallons), and the surface to be painted is 250,000 square meters. Since it has been built it has been repainted 18 times. Each of these 18 paint jobs there were only 25 painters are hired to do the job.Three separate colors of paint are used on the structure in order to enhance the impression of height, with the lightest at the top.
The Eiffel Tower was built by Alexandre Gustave Eiffel for the 100th year anniversary of the French Revolution. Even though Gustave Eiffel is credited for the Eiffel Tower it was actually two lesser known people who came up with the original drawing of it. These people were Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier. These two men were the chief engineers of Eiffel’s engineering firm. The main architect was Stephen Sauvestre.
