Engineering the Eiffel Tower

Engineering the Eiffel Tower — page 3 — iron lady This iron tower has become a symbol of Paris MAKING A STATEMENT World's Fairs have been happening since the mid 1800s Every few 6 PERSPECTIVES CELEBRATION CONTROVERSY Turning the 1889 Exposition into an anniversary party for the French Revolution created some controversy Many countries refused to participate The United Kingdom Italy and Russia still had ruling monarchs They would not acknowledge an event that celebrated a revolution Ultimately representatives from 43 nations attended the fair Sixteen of them went without the approval of their governments years a country hosts one of these events Nations set up exhibits to share their cultures and technology Paris hosted a World's Fair in 1889 known as the Exposition Universelle Organizers used the event as a celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution They hoped to show modern France

Engineering the Eiffel Tower — page 4 — The Exposition Universelle featured a vast exhibit hall with displays from various nations 7 to the world To do this they believed the fair needed something special It needed a structure to represent French culture The planners wanted something bold They decided on a tower 984 feet 300 m tall The structure would dwarf all others in the world The organizers held a competition to design the tower People submitted more than 100 entries Some were elegant Others were absurd One entry

Engineering the Eiffel Tower — page 5 — proposed a giant watering can Another suggested an enormous guillotine The two main competitors were engineer Gustave Eiffel and architect Jules Bourdais Eiffel proposed an iron tower Bourdais presented a classical stone structure It would be topped by an electrical beacon The beacon would light the night for miles around Eiffel argued that existing cathedrals had already reached the maximum height for stone structures Bourdais mocked Eiffel's iron design He claimed his tower would cost far less than Eiffel's The Bourdais plan had the tower resting on the ground Eiffel knew such a tower needed an underground foundation The committee finally decided the tower had to be a metal structure Only Eiffel's tower met this requirement 8 FACING OPPOSITION Winning the competition was just the beginning for Eiffel He still needed to find funding He also had to Eiffel's legacy has lived on in the name of his famous tower

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