The Eiffel Tower
In 1889, Paris was the center of the universe. That year, a World Exposition was held in the metropolis above the Seine. The Eiffel Tower, at the time of its creation twice as tall as the previous record holder - the Washington Monument, became the central feature of the entire exhibition. Before the Eiffel Tower was built, the phenomenon of towers was more associated with military or industrial interests, but Eiffel transformed the existing thinking about tall structures with a sophisticated form of steel construction.
Detailed static calculations based on the vast experience of a bridge engineer made it possible to erect the tower to an impressive height of 300 meters using 12,000 steel components. To shorten the construction time, Eiffel designed the tower's construction from prefabricated parts. Visitors ascended to the various floors of the tower using elevators. The same elevators were previously used to transport the steel upwards. Eiffel was a master of economy, as evidenced by the number of his still-functioning projects.
The construction of the tower initially faced many blunt protests from local artists. However, many understood the significance of this structure, and the Eiffel Tower appeared on the canvases of masters such as Seurat, Chagall, and Picasso. Jean Cocteau called it "Notre Dame of the Left Bank - the queen of Paris," and Apollinaire referred to it as "the shepherdess of clouds."
The Eiffel Tower became a symbol of tall buildings, and it is no wonder that when the John Hancock Center in Chicago was completed in 1968, a piece of the Eiffel Tower's structure was included in the capsule documenting the period of its creation as a symbol of engineering skill.
From the outside, the Eiffel Tower attracts attention with its simple shape resembling the printed letter A. Beneath its iron shell, however, this building, which represents one of the most famous symbols of Paris and France in general, conceals many complex devices that keep it running even after 119 years. This is reported by the AP agency.
Custom-made pumps, elevators, heating systems, lights, and long-lasting bulbs allow the observation tower to function and shine, while pins, gears, and cables rotate, grind, squeak, and hum deep within the building's "guts," in areas inaccessible to tourists. Maintaining the hidden core of this technical monument is a tiring and sometimes even dangerous task that never ends.
More than 500 people work on the Eiffel Tower, from welders, tinners, and safety personnel to cooks.
"We have a complete village bustling with life and inhabited by very special people," explained Yves Camaret, the technical director of the company responsible for operating the structure.
Spacious underground halls extending under the "feet" of the tower hide enormous hydraulic engines that move the two elevators for visitors. After descending into these spaces, nicknamed "the pit" by workers, one might feel as if they are in the middle of the movie Modern Times, in which Charlie Chaplin showcased his vision of an industrial society in 1936.
An enormous water tank with a capacity of 4,000 liters, once filled with water from the Seine River, provides the counterweight necessary every day to transport 18,000 visitors to the middle platform of the tower, located at a height of 115 meters. Countless moving parts in the motor of both elevators require frequent lubrication, and technicians must check them daily because even a half-hour interruption in service can cause the lines of waiting tourists to double.
The owner of the tower is the city of Paris, which received 1.4 million euros (approximately 39 million CZK) in profit from the "Eiffel Tower" in 2007. Every year, about seven million visitors view the French capital from its balconies, making the structure one of the most tourist-attractive places in the world, but also a target for potential terrorists.
"It is a symbol, and therefore represents a possible target," says Camaret, who refused to specify the extensive security measures in place. The tower guards are tasked, among other things, with preventing suicides. However, despite all the efforts of the security personnel, on average, one person each year manages to overcome the barricades and end their life.
The architect of the steel structure was Gustave Eiffel. The elevators here were built in 1899, ten years after the tower opened. Together with another pair of elevators that carry visitors to the top platform, they travel nearly 100,000 kilometers up and down each year.
There are also more modern electric freight elevators that transport everything from souvenirs to baguettes and champagne, served in the two restaurants here - the more luxurious Jules Verne, run by renowned chef Alain Ducasse, and Altitude 95 for "ordinary" tourists. Underground pumps supply the kitchens and restrooms with water through dozens of kilometers of pipes attached to the structure, exposed to the elements. Miniature spiral heaters protect against freezing, ensuring that sinks and toilets operate in any weather.
A team of 30 painters takes 18 months to apply a new "coat" of the typical bronze color to all parts of the structure. Even the lighting requires significant labor efforts. Repairs to each of the 360 lights are performed by specially trained technicians using rock-climbing techniques. For safety, they work in pairs with tools securely tied to their belts to prevent accidents.
"If you drop something, anything, even a small thing like a screwdriver, it can kill someone down below," explains electrician Henri Pellier. Bringing a new light fixture into operation takes the repair team an hour, but fortunately for them, the 20,000 small bulbs that light up the tower all night long are guaranteed a lifespan of ten years.
The Eiffel Tower was constructed in 1889 for the World Expo and represented a literal architectural revolution at that time. Not only did it become the tallest building in the world, a title it lost only in 1929, but it also represented a radical break from the low buildings made of stone and brick, which had characterized Paris until then.
Its presence in the heart of the French capital initially provoked a tremendous wave of resistance among famous artists, writers, architects, and other prominent figures, who in an open letter in 1887 called it a "useless and terrible" structure and demanded an end to its construction. According to the original plans, the tower was to be demolished after 20 years, but over time it gained public favor and demonstrated its usefulness when telecommunications equipment was installed on it.
Detailed static calculations based on the vast experience of a bridge engineer made it possible to erect the tower to an impressive height of 300 meters using 12,000 steel components. To shorten the construction time, Eiffel designed the tower's construction from prefabricated parts. Visitors ascended to the various floors of the tower using elevators. The same elevators were previously used to transport the steel upwards. Eiffel was a master of economy, as evidenced by the number of his still-functioning projects.
The construction of the tower initially faced many blunt protests from local artists. However, many understood the significance of this structure, and the Eiffel Tower appeared on the canvases of masters such as Seurat, Chagall, and Picasso. Jean Cocteau called it "Notre Dame of the Left Bank - the queen of Paris," and Apollinaire referred to it as "the shepherdess of clouds."
The Eiffel Tower became a symbol of tall buildings, and it is no wonder that when the John Hancock Center in Chicago was completed in 1968, a piece of the Eiffel Tower's structure was included in the capsule documenting the period of its creation as a symbol of engineering skill.
From the outside, the Eiffel Tower attracts attention with its simple shape resembling the printed letter A. Beneath its iron shell, however, this building, which represents one of the most famous symbols of Paris and France in general, conceals many complex devices that keep it running even after 119 years. This is reported by the AP agency.
Custom-made pumps, elevators, heating systems, lights, and long-lasting bulbs allow the observation tower to function and shine, while pins, gears, and cables rotate, grind, squeak, and hum deep within the building's "guts," in areas inaccessible to tourists. Maintaining the hidden core of this technical monument is a tiring and sometimes even dangerous task that never ends.
More than 500 people work on the Eiffel Tower, from welders, tinners, and safety personnel to cooks.
"We have a complete village bustling with life and inhabited by very special people," explained Yves Camaret, the technical director of the company responsible for operating the structure.
Spacious underground halls extending under the "feet" of the tower hide enormous hydraulic engines that move the two elevators for visitors. After descending into these spaces, nicknamed "the pit" by workers, one might feel as if they are in the middle of the movie Modern Times, in which Charlie Chaplin showcased his vision of an industrial society in 1936.
An enormous water tank with a capacity of 4,000 liters, once filled with water from the Seine River, provides the counterweight necessary every day to transport 18,000 visitors to the middle platform of the tower, located at a height of 115 meters. Countless moving parts in the motor of both elevators require frequent lubrication, and technicians must check them daily because even a half-hour interruption in service can cause the lines of waiting tourists to double.
The owner of the tower is the city of Paris, which received 1.4 million euros (approximately 39 million CZK) in profit from the "Eiffel Tower" in 2007. Every year, about seven million visitors view the French capital from its balconies, making the structure one of the most tourist-attractive places in the world, but also a target for potential terrorists.
"It is a symbol, and therefore represents a possible target," says Camaret, who refused to specify the extensive security measures in place. The tower guards are tasked, among other things, with preventing suicides. However, despite all the efforts of the security personnel, on average, one person each year manages to overcome the barricades and end their life.
The architect of the steel structure was Gustave Eiffel. The elevators here were built in 1899, ten years after the tower opened. Together with another pair of elevators that carry visitors to the top platform, they travel nearly 100,000 kilometers up and down each year.
There are also more modern electric freight elevators that transport everything from souvenirs to baguettes and champagne, served in the two restaurants here - the more luxurious Jules Verne, run by renowned chef Alain Ducasse, and Altitude 95 for "ordinary" tourists. Underground pumps supply the kitchens and restrooms with water through dozens of kilometers of pipes attached to the structure, exposed to the elements. Miniature spiral heaters protect against freezing, ensuring that sinks and toilets operate in any weather.
A team of 30 painters takes 18 months to apply a new "coat" of the typical bronze color to all parts of the structure. Even the lighting requires significant labor efforts. Repairs to each of the 360 lights are performed by specially trained technicians using rock-climbing techniques. For safety, they work in pairs with tools securely tied to their belts to prevent accidents.
"If you drop something, anything, even a small thing like a screwdriver, it can kill someone down below," explains electrician Henri Pellier. Bringing a new light fixture into operation takes the repair team an hour, but fortunately for them, the 20,000 small bulbs that light up the tower all night long are guaranteed a lifespan of ten years.
The Eiffel Tower was constructed in 1889 for the World Expo and represented a literal architectural revolution at that time. Not only did it become the tallest building in the world, a title it lost only in 1929, but it also represented a radical break from the low buildings made of stone and brick, which had characterized Paris until then.
Its presence in the heart of the French capital initially provoked a tremendous wave of resistance among famous artists, writers, architects, and other prominent figures, who in an open letter in 1887 called it a "useless and terrible" structure and demanded an end to its construction. According to the original plans, the tower was to be demolished after 20 years, but over time it gained public favor and demonstrated its usefulness when telecommunications equipment was installed on it.
(ČTK, 11.2.2009)
Paris/Prague - At first, Parisians opposed it, calling it an ugly monster and organizing events for its removal. But after 120 years, which will pass on Tuesday since the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, this unique steel structure still stands as an icon of Paris and France. And during that time, many of its imitations have also sprung up around the world, including the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague.
The grand work was conceived by architect Gustave Eiffel (who is also the author of the Statue of Liberty in New York) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and the World Expo in 1889. Externally resembling the letter A, it rose on the Mars Fields on the left bank of the Seine River and represented a radical departure from low stone and brick buildings, which had characterized Paris until then.
Perhaps that is why Parisians initially found the grid-like structure appalling. Their "outrage" against the "useless and monstrous tower" was expressed, for example, in the newspaper Le Temps, where they described Eiffel as "some kind of machine constructor" who wanted to "irreparably deform and dishonor" Paris.
Eiffel, a proven builder of bridges, responded to these attacks with dry arguments. For example, that the arches in the lowest part of the tower would give the structure an "impression of strength and beauty," and that the gaps between the individual construction elements would ensure that it would have an incredible lightness. And so it happened.
The assembly of the metal structure, based on four massive foundational blocks, began on July 1, 1887. The gigantic nature of the work is evident in the numbers - even before construction began, fifty engineers and draftsmen had to prepare 5,300 construction drawings, according to which more than a hundred qualified workers then prepared about 18,000 prefabricated parts in workshops.
For example, just raising the lower parts of the tower to a height of 57 meters took six months of hard work. The French flag waved, thanks to the efforts of 250 workers, at the top of the structure at 312 meters on March 31, 1889. Before that could happen, however, the workers had to install a total of 7,300 tons of metal beams, using two and a half million rivets and another 18,038 metal parts to connect them.
The tower held the title of the tallest building in the world until 1929, when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York. In 1909, it was supposed to be demolished due to an expired concession. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it began to appear in paintings (Pissaro, Utrillo, Seurat, Delaunay), and poets (Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire) also began to celebrate it.
In the meantime, it also acquired its significance as a meteorological station, which is why it was preserved. Later, it also became a center for air traffic and radio and television broadcasting. Initially, advertisements were placed on it, such as for the Figaro and Citroën companies.
The innards of the Eiffel Tower conceal many complex devices that keep it running. These include a massive water tank with a capacity of 4,000 liters, once filled with water from the Seine River, providing the elevators with the counterweight needed to transport 18,000 visitors daily to the middle platforms.
The tower has three platforms: the first is at a height of 57 meters (345 steps), the second is at 115 meters (359 steps), and the third is at 274 meters, accessible only by elevator. Cable cars travel to the first and second floors on the three legs of the tower, and there are staircases for pedestrians in the fourth leg. From the second floor, elevators lead to the third floor (the elevators were built here in 1899, ten years after the tower opened). In optimal visibility, one can see as far as 67 kilometers from the top.
Visitors can refresh themselves in the two restaurants here - the more luxurious Jules Verne, run by renowned chef Alain Ducasse, and Altitude 95 for "ordinary" tourists.
The fame of the Eiffel Tower also makes it a target for potential terrorists and suicides. Every year, on average, one person manages to overcome the barriers and various obstacles and end their life, despite all the efforts of the security personnel, which is not easy at all.
The tower also attracts adventurers. In 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichel jumped from the first floor, wanting to test his "parachute" coat of his own design. He reportedly died of fear before hitting the ground. Other similar stunts have ended successfully - for example, in May 2006, Belgian Johan Vervoort secretly and successfully jumped from the third floor. (ČTK, 29.3.2009)
Paris/Prague - At first, Parisians opposed it, calling it an ugly monster and organizing events for its removal. But after 120 years, which will pass on Tuesday since the inauguration of the Eiffel Tower, this unique steel structure still stands as an icon of Paris and France. And during that time, many of its imitations have also sprung up around the world, including the Petřín Lookout Tower in Prague.
The grand work was conceived by architect Gustave Eiffel (who is also the author of the Statue of Liberty in New York) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution and the World Expo in 1889. Externally resembling the letter A, it rose on the Mars Fields on the left bank of the Seine River and represented a radical departure from low stone and brick buildings, which had characterized Paris until then.
Perhaps that is why Parisians initially found the grid-like structure appalling. Their "outrage" against the "useless and monstrous tower" was expressed, for example, in the newspaper Le Temps, where they described Eiffel as "some kind of machine constructor" who wanted to "irreparably deform and dishonor" Paris.
Eiffel, a proven builder of bridges, responded to these attacks with dry arguments. For example, that the arches in the lowest part of the tower would give the structure an "impression of strength and beauty," and that the gaps between the individual construction elements would ensure that it would have an incredible lightness. And so it happened.
The assembly of the metal structure, based on four massive foundational blocks, began on July 1, 1887. The gigantic nature of the work is evident in the numbers - even before construction began, fifty engineers and draftsmen had to prepare 5,300 construction drawings, according to which more than a hundred qualified workers then prepared about 18,000 prefabricated parts in workshops.
For example, just raising the lower parts of the tower to a height of 57 meters took six months of hard work. The French flag waved, thanks to the efforts of 250 workers, at the top of the structure at 312 meters on March 31, 1889. Before that could happen, however, the workers had to install a total of 7,300 tons of metal beams, using two and a half million rivets and another 18,038 metal parts to connect them.
The tower held the title of the tallest building in the world until 1929, when the Chrysler Building was completed in New York. In 1909, it was supposed to be demolished due to an expired concession. However, at the beginning of the 20th century, it began to appear in paintings (Pissaro, Utrillo, Seurat, Delaunay), and poets (Jean Cocteau, Guillaume Apollinaire) also began to celebrate it.
In the meantime, it also acquired its significance as a meteorological station, which is why it was preserved. Later, it also became a center for air traffic and radio and television broadcasting. Initially, advertisements were placed on it, such as for the Figaro and Citroën companies.
The innards of the Eiffel Tower conceal many complex devices that keep it running. These include a massive water tank with a capacity of 4,000 liters, once filled with water from the Seine River, providing the elevators with the counterweight needed to transport 18,000 visitors daily to the middle platforms.
The tower has three platforms: the first is at a height of 57 meters (345 steps), the second is at 115 meters (359 steps), and the third is at 274 meters, accessible only by elevator. Cable cars travel to the first and second floors on the three legs of the tower, and there are staircases for pedestrians in the fourth leg. From the second floor, elevators lead to the third floor (the elevators were built here in 1899, ten years after the tower opened). In optimal visibility, one can see as far as 67 kilometers from the top.
Visitors can refresh themselves in the two restaurants here - the more luxurious Jules Verne, run by renowned chef Alain Ducasse, and Altitude 95 for "ordinary" tourists.
The fame of the Eiffel Tower also makes it a target for potential terrorists and suicides. Every year, on average, one person manages to overcome the barriers and various obstacles and end their life, despite all the efforts of the security personnel, which is not easy at all.
The tower also attracts adventurers. In 1912, Austrian tailor Franz Reichel jumped from the first floor, wanting to test his "parachute" coat of his own design. He reportedly died of fear before hitting the ground. Other similar stunts have ended successfully - for example, in May 2006, Belgian Johan Vervoort secretly and successfully jumped from the third floor.
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