Parisian Landmark. Looking upward at the magnificent Eiffel Tower, the iconic symbol of Paris, floodlit against a blue twilight sky. France.
The magnificent Eiffel tower has become the pre-eminent symbol of Paris. At 324 metres in height (from the ground to the tip of the antennae on the top) it literally towers above everything else. Yet when it was first built for the Universal Exhibition of 1889 it was only intended to be a temporary addition to the Paris skyline, and there were many who thought it a hideous eyesore. The author Guy de Maupassant even lunched there every day (allegedly) because, he said, it was the only place in Paris from where he could avoid seeing it. Interestingly, one of the original design criteria was that the tower should be easy to demolish, but the reason it was allowed to remain in place beyond its allotted time of twenty years, was because of its great usefulness as a communications mast and military observation platform. Today, more than 120 years after it was built, the gigantic structure of iron girders is still standing, and it would be almost impossible to imagine Paris without it.
Size: 4287px × 2848px
Location: Champ de Mars, 7th Arrondissement, Paris, Île-de-France, France, Europe.
Photo credit: © Andrew Wood / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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