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plaza. The one in the Piazza del Campidgolio is actually a copy. The original is safe and
sound in the Capitol Museum. If you see it turning gold, start praying. Legend has it that
the statue's gold will return at the end of the world.
EIFFEL TOWER
Undoubtedly, one of the great monuments of the world, the Eiffel Tower escaped demoli-
tion shortly after it opened. Built for the 1889 International Exposition – the equivalent of to-
day's World's Fair – the tower was erected to mark the 100th anniversary of the French Revolu-
tion and straddled the main entrance to the fair.
While the Eiffel Tower has welcomed 32,250,297 people to L'exposition de Paris, Parisians
did not welcome the tower at first. This icon sparked protests, and much grumbling among the
people of the time who felt it was dangerous, ugly, and did not reflect their city's culture.
In an attempt to appease the opponents, the space between the tower's four legs is filled in
by ornate arches. In spite of their appearance, these massive spans serve no practical function.
They are strictly ornamental and do not help support the structure, which was the first object
built to withstand the forces of the wind as well as gravity.
Only now, more than one hundred years later, can we see the tower in context. It has aged
gracefully and no longer stands in stark contrast to the ornate architecture that has survived in
modern Paris. Once the exposition was over, plans were made to dismantle the Eiffel Tower.
The monument that brought howls of displeasure because it represented that which was mod-
ern, new, and very un-Parisian, was actually saved by technological advances.
Engineers realized that the structure would make a perfect broadcasting tower. Even today,
a television mast stands at the top of the Eiffel Tower, bringing its overall height to 1,056 feet.
The potential destruction of the tower became the basis for one of the greatest con jobs in his-
tory.
Several companies were fleeced for millions of dollars by a man who convinced them he
was working for the French government and took bribes in order to sway the nonexistent demo-
lition contract their way. The tower gets its name from Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed
the monument, and also did the girder work for the Statue of Liberty now in New York harbor.
Looking at its open frame, it comes as no surprise that Eiffel was a bridge engineer when he
entered the competition along with 100 other people to design this lasting monument to French
culture. It was his knowledge of trusses and spans that allowed the tower to reach a maximum
height with minimal construction. In fact, it took just two years for it to reach its pre-television
height of 984 feet.
In spite of this height, the Eiffel Tower has just four floors. All are served by specially de-
signed elevators that, instead of running up a vertical track, move along a curve dictated by the
tower's sloping form. Reaching the top-level presents visitors with a visual delight – a 40-mile
view of Paris and its environs sprawled out in a spider web pattern inconceivable from the
ground.
The Tower is made of 12,000 pieces of pre-formed steel put together like a big puzzle.
There are 7,000,000 rivets holding the tower together.
It was the first tower tall enough that it had to be designed to counter the effects of wind. The
passenger elevators run along the same tracks that the construction cranes used during assem-
bly. A piece of iron from the Eiffel Tower is sealed in a time capsule at the top of the John
Hancock building in Chicago.
• June 2001 – A 38-year-old Frenchman has parachuted off of the Eiffel Tower because
his friends bet him he wouldn't do it. The man went in with a group of tourists and hid until af-
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