The genius of the designer and the boundless height of the Eiffel Tower

What does Paris usually associate with most tourists and just people who are interested in it? Of course, with the world-famous Eiffel Tower, which has attracted curious people for several centuries and amazes the knowledgeable. The history of the tower is interesting and unusual, like the history of any famous masterpiece of world culture.

In 1889, an exhibition of the achievements of industry was to take place. The city of Paris was elected. The exhibition was held for the twelfth time and again devoted to discoveries in the field of science and technology. Paris as a hospitable host, according to the Parisians, was to present the world's most amazing achievement.

Throughout France, a competition of projects was announced, one of which was to become not only a visiting card of the city, but also a symbol of the exhibition itself. The best architects of the country presented their sketches to the jury. After lengthy discussions, the preference was given to the idea of Gustave Eiffel, already then the famous architect of France. He proposed to erect in the very center of the capital a huge metal construction, assembled from individual pyramidal elements laid out in the form of a tower, and installed on a powerful foundation. The project is too ambitious not only for the 19th century. After the completion of construction, the height of the Eiffel Tower should have been more than 300 meters.

The construction of the tower was a grandiose event, which has no analogues. At once the difficulties were defined. First of all, it is the ability of the tower to withstand daily wind loads, the stability of the foundation, the structure of the ground, the assembling of elements and lifting them to the height - everything that was not previously done, and the experience in such operations was not only among the builders, but also the engineers themselves. In addition, almost immediately after the approval of the project rained indignant reviews of Parisians, who believed that such an ugly structure made of a single metal can not be combined with the historical sights of the capital. Despite the protests, the work began.

The construction of the tower began in January 1887. The left bank of the Seine was chosen as the site for the construction of the structure. The most difficult element of the construction was the foundation. It took a year and a half to prepare and erect it, while the construction itself was assembled in almost eight months. Two years later, the Eiffel Tower appeared before the eyes of Parisians and visitors of the city.

The height of the Eiffel Tower was more than three hundred meters, which is twice the world record holders of that time, the famous pyramid of Cheops, the Ulm Cathedral and the cathedral in Cologne. Eiffel managed to accurately calculate every stage of construction, to think in details the implementation of each process. For the first time in the construction practice, the properties of the soil and its layers were taken into account before laying the foundation, for which scientific research was carried out. The basis was built using the latest technology with the use of compressed air. The position of the tower had to be constantly adjusted, for this purpose jacks were installed each with a lifting force of 800 tons.

The innovation was the height of the Eiffel Tower. Since earlier designs of such sizes were not made, it was necessary to solve the issue of lifting and fastening elements. The Eiffel Tower was designed by the architect to have three floors. The height of the first floor was 58 meters - a simple task with special cranes and winches. Difficulties could arise with the construction of the second floor, because it was installed at a level of 116 meters above the ground. Especially for this purpose, special cranes capable of working at altitudes were developed by the engineer. Cranes lifted special platforms on the rails.

The third floor is a pyramid 180 meters high and 16 meters in diameter, which was collected on site. Given that the height of the Eiffel Tower on this site is more than 120 meters, it was technically difficult to do it. Especially for these purposes, mounting cradles were used, in which the workers were located.

Surprisingly, the project was so thoroughly considered by Eiffel that it was never revised. In the calculations, everything was taken into account, including the maximum possible load that the structure can withstand. All the details of the design were grinded at the engineer's own factory and were made accurate to a millimeter.

The official opening day of the tower is March 31, 1889. It became a real masterpiece. The opportunity to climb up and look at the city made it a successful commercial project not only of the 19th century, but also of our days, and the name of the creator is forever immortalized in the chronicles of history.