Interesting Facts of France (Paris, France)

1. Interesting Facts of France(Paris, France) Paris the Capital- It derives from that of it’s pre Roman-era inhabitants, the Gaulish tribe, were known as the Parisii. Before the city was called Paris, the city was called Lutetia during the first  to the 6th century Roman occupation, but the present name began to replace this towards the end of that 6th century. Paris as had as had a lot of nicknames, but the most famous one of all is “The City of Lights.” This is the nickname it was given both for its fame and for the adoption of street lighting. The city as a lot of landmarks, the most famous one is the Eiffel Tower. Started on January 26, 1887, completed in 1889, opened on March 31, 1889. It took 2 years, 2 months and 5 days to finish. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was the main architect, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier were the main engineers, Stephen Sauvestre was the main architect, and Jean Compagnon handled the construction of the Eiffel Tower. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was the first person to create the internal frame of The Statue of Liberty in 1885. The Eiffel Tower is 324 meters tall. It is 986 feet tall without the antenna, but with the antenna, it is 1052 feet tall. The material for The Eiffel Tower is wrought iron. It uses 9,441 tons of wrought iron. A total of 18,028 pieces of wrought iron was combined to create The Eiffel Tower. About 60 tons of paint is used for The Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is painted every 7 years in 3 shades of brown(darkest shade at the bottom.) Even today painting The Eiffel Tower is used to paint it. In clear weather, very seldom seen today, you can see approximately 42 miles from the top of the of The Eiffel Tower. The base of The Eiffel Tower covers a square area of 100 meters. During gusty winds, The Eiffel Tower sways up to 15 cms at it’s summit. There was only one death during the construction, that 2 outside working hours and not work related. Alexandre Gustave Eiffel past away on December 27, 1923 in Paris. The Eiffel Tower has a total of 1710 steps to the topmost 3rd level small platform, 647 steps to the 2nd level, and 347 steps on the 1st level. The Eiffel Tower was the tallest structure when it was being built in 1887-1889, but this has been surpassed over the years. Today The Eiffel Tower is always open to the public. People in wheelchairs can visit The Eiffel Tower up to the 2nd level using the elevator.