República Bolivariana de Venezuela

FUNDAIDIOMAS

Mérida, Edo. Mérida

THE EIFFEL TOWER

Dixon G. Montilva M.

18.798.954

Ingles Conversacional I

Mérida, 26 de Abril de 2011

 The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower (in French: La Tour Eiffel; nickname

La dame de fer, the iron lady) is a iron lattice tower
located on the Champ-de-Mars in Paris, at the 7 th
disctrict. Built in 1889, it has become both a global
icon of France and one of the most recognizable
structures in the world. The tower is the tallest
building in Paris and the most-visited paid monument
in the world; millions of people ascend it every year.
Named for its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the
tower was built as the entrance arch to the 1889
World's Fair.

The tower stands 324 metres (1,063 ft) tall. Upon its
completion, it surpassed the Washington Monument
to assume the title of tallest man-made structure in
the world, a title it held for 41 years, until the
Chrysler Building in New York City was built in 1930;
however, due to the addition in 1957 of the antenna,
the tower is now taller than the Chrysler Building.

The tower has three levels for visitors. Tickets can be purchased to ascend, by stairs or lift,
to the first and second levels. The walk to the first level is over 300 steps, as is the walk
from the first to the second level. The third and highest level is accessible only by elevator.
Both the first and second levels feature restaurants.

The tower has become the most prominent symbol of both Paris and France, often in the
establishing shot of films set in the city.

Images of tickets to enter to the Eiffel Tower

 History
The structure was built between 1887
and 1889 as the entrance arch for the
Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair
marking the centennial celebration of
the French Revolution. Three hundred
workers joined together 18,038 pieces
of puddled iron, using two and a half
million rivets, in a structural design by
Maurice Koechlin. Gustave Eiffel was
Construction of the Eiffel Tower assisted in the design by engineers Émile
Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin and
architect Stephen Sauvestre.
The risk of accident was great as, unlike modern skyscrapers, the tower is an open frame
without any intermediate floors except the two platforms. However, because Eiffel took
safety precautions, including the use of movable stagings, guard-rails and screens, only
one man died. The tower was inaugurated on 31 March 1889, and opened on 6 May.

The tower was much criticised by the public when it was built, with many calling it an
eyesore. Newspapers of the day were filled with angry letters from the arts community of
Paris. Novelist Guy de Maupassant—who claimed to hate the tower—supposedly ate
lunch in the Tower's restaurant every day. When asked why, he answered that it was the
one place in Paris where one could not see the structure. Today, the Tower is widely
considered to be a striking piece of structural art.
One of the great Hollywood movie clichés is that the view
from a Parisian window always includes the tower. In
reality, since zoning restrictions limit the height of most
buildings in Paris to 7 stories, only a very few of the taller
buildings have a clear view of the tower.

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 (part of the original contest rules for designing a
tower was that it could be easily demolished) but as the
tower proved valuable for communication purposes, it was The Eiffel Tower from
allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit. The the street view from the
military used it to dispatch Parisian taxis to the front line 5th district of Paris.
during the First Battle of the Marne.
Tourism
More than 200,000,000 people have
visited the tower since its construction
in 1889, including 6,719,200 in 2006.
The tower is the most-visited paid
monument in the world.

Map of the location of the Eiffel Tower in Paris

Restaurants
The tower has two restaurants: Altitude 95, on the first floor 311 ft (95 m) above sea level;
and the Jules Verne, an expensive gastronomical restaurant on the second floor, with a
private lift. This restaurant has one star in the Michelin Red Guide. In January 2007, the
multi-Michelin star chef Alain Ducasse was brought in to run Jules Verne.

Attempted Relocation
According to interviews given in the early 1980s, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau
negotiated a secret agreement with French President Charles de Gaulle for the tower to
be dismantled and temporarily relocated to Montreal, Canada; to serve as a landmark and
tourist attraction during Expo 67. The plan was allegedly vetoed by the company which
operated the tower out of fear that the French government could refuse permission for
the tower to be restored to its original location.
 Dimensions of the Eiffel Tower

Exterior Side: 18,65 m

Surface: 350 m²

Exterior Side: 40,96 m

Surface: 1650 m²

Exterior Side: 70,69 m

Surface: 4200 m²

Base: 33,5 m.o.s.l.s

(Meters Over Sea Level
Standard)
Vocabulary
Lattice Tower: is a freestanding framework tower, that can be used as electricity pylons for
voltages above 100 kilovolts, as a radio tower (a self-radiating tower or as a carrier for
aerials) or as an observation tower.

Puddled iron: is a very pure form of structural iron.

Puddling: is a technique in wich the molten iron in a reverberatory furnace (oven) was
stirred with rods, which were consumed in the process. Later, it was also used to produce
a good-quality steel with the correct amount of carbon; this was a highly skilled art, but
both high-carbon and low-carbon steels were successfully produced on a small scale,
particularly for swords, knives and other weapons.

M.O.S.L.S.: Meters Over Sea Level Standard.