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Interesting facts about Eiffel Tower

tourist Shrirang Joshi

calendar 21 November 2019

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A view of Eiffel Tower from Trocadero Square
  1. Alexandre Gustav eEiffel’s original surname was Bönickhausen. His family hailed from the German town of Marmagen. Gustave’sparents adopted the surname Eiffel after the Eifel mountains in the area that they came from.
  2. Eiffel owned a company called Compagniedes Établissements Eiffel
  3. The original design of Eiffel Tower was done by two Engineers Maurice Koechlinand ÉmileNouguierwho worked for Eiffel’s company. Stephen Sauvestre- the head of the Architecture department of Eiffel's company – contributed to the architectural design of the decorative arches of Eiffel Tower. Eiffel’s company had a reputation in building bridges and Eiffel did not show much interest in Eiffel Tower at the beginning. However, he allowed Koechlinand Nouguierto continue with the design. Later, after Sauvestre’sdesign of arches, Eiffel was impressed and bought the rights to the rights to the patent on the design which Koechlin, Nougier, and Sauvestrehad taken out. The design was exhibited at the Exhibition of Decorative Arts in the autumn of 1884 under the company name.
  4. On 30 March 1885 Eiffel presented a paper on the project to the Sociétédes IngénieursCivils; after discussing the technical problems and emphasising the practical uses of the tower. Later it was decided that the tower would be built for the World fair (Exposition) in 1889.
  5. The French Government’s decision on funding the erection of the tower got delayed. On a condition of getting all the income from the tower for the next 20 years, Mr. Eiffel offered to fund 5/6th of the expenditure (equivalent of approximately 4.5 million EUR). He recovered his investment in the first 7 months of the operation of the tower.
  6. Initially Eiffel Tower was planned to be taken down in 20 years. It was Mr. Eiffel who influenced the government decision and made his tower (almost) eternal.
  7. Go-Green: On the second level of Eiffel tower, there are two wind turbines which produce about 10,000kWh per year - enough electricity to power the tower's first-floor commercial areas. The group that runs the tower is also installing rainwater collection systems, LED lights, and solar panels on the tower.