Eiffel Tower

It’s difficult not to feel like you’re in a different world when taking the elevator up 984 feet, standing at 1,063ft high. The views of Paris are breathtaking and this is one place where even those who can’t make it all the way around will find themselves impressed with something they’ve never seen before.

The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on Champ de Mars in Paris that was designed by Gustave Eiffel which stands over 30 stories tall or just slightly lower than Detroit’s Renaissance Center. It took two years for construction and cost 7 million French francs ($10 million) as well as 2,500 tons of steel to complete its completion, but now, it’s one of the most famous landmarks in the world. The tower remains a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

The design is based on four piers, which symbolize solidity and resistance. The material for this building was specially chosen because steel is stronger than any other metallic structure and was less expensive than the stone structure that it replaced. The tower stands 1,063ft high which is taller than the spire on top of the Empire State Building (1,250ft) and the Chrysler Building in New York City (1,046ft). The weight of the 665 foot tall Eiffel Tower actually counteracts the pull of gravity and the tower is actually engineered to be larger at the bottom than the top which helps it stand without immediate collapse. The lattice structure was developed by Eiffel months before construction started, a patent on his design was filed 7 years after he began planning for The Eiffel Tower. The Tower has three floors: The first floor is the ground floor which contains The Eiffel Tower’s two restaurants: The 58 Tour Eiffel and Le Jules Verne, The second floor is the main floor where you will find a gift shop, The third level of The Eiffel Tower is an Observation Deck known as The Trocadero.