Lego Architecture Эйфелева башня (21019) [10/72] From 1889 to today

From 1889 to Today

The tower was an immediate success with the public, and lengthy

queues formed to make the ascent. Tickets cost two francs for the ﬁrst

level, three for the second, and ﬁve for the top, with half-price admission

on Sundays. By the end of the 1889 World’s Fair, there had been nearly

two million visitors.

Eiﬀel had a permit for the tower to stand for twenty years; it was to

be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City

of Paris. The city had originally planned to take it down (part of the

original contest rules for designing the tower was that it could be

easily demolished), but Eiﬀel argued that the structure was valuable for

communication and scientiﬁc purposes. After a short campaign, it was

allowed to remain after the original permit expired.

Eiﬀel installed a meteorology lab on the third ﬂoor and later also

constructed a small wind tunnel at the foot of the tower. He carried out ﬁve

thousand tests there and encouraged others to use the tower to study

subjects such as meteorology, astronomy, and physics. It was the advent

of wireless telegraphy that ﬁnally secured the structure’s future. The

top of the tower would be modiﬁed

over the years to accommodate an

ever-growing number of antennas. It

is currently home to 120 antennas,

plus a television mast that extends

the height of the tower to 1,063 feet

(324 meters).

Today the Eiﬀel Tower remains one of

the most recognizable structures on

the planet, welcoming more visitors

than any other paid monument in

the world—an estimated seven

million people per year. Some ﬁve

hundred employees are responsible

for its daily operation, ensuring that

eager crowds enjoy panoramic

views of the city.

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