Guillaume Apollinaire’s “Ocean Letter”

Features the Eiffel Towerat

300 meters high

Some Interesting Details• Inaugurated on March 31,1889 • built for the universal exhibition to celebrate the French Revolution

of 1789• Contractor : Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923)• Studies : begun in 1884; Construction : 1887 to 1889 ( 2 years, 2

months, 5 days )• Material : puddled iron• Composition : 18,038 pieces; 2,500,000 rivets• Weight of the metal structure : 7300 tons; Total weight : 10,100 tons• Height in 1889 : 312.27 m (height with flagpole)• Height : 324 m (height with antenna) • Paint : 50 tons of paint every 7 years

More Interesting Details--

• Lighting: 352 projectors of 1000 watts• Sparking lights : 20,000 bulbs, 800 fairy lights• Revolving light : 4 floodlights equipped with 6000

watt xenon bulbs• Numbers of visitors in 2000 : 6.315.324• Numbers of visitors up until 12/31/2000 :

192,120,123• Number of steps : 1665

“In 1889 the tower was a colossal fairground attraction, but during the 1920s it became a symbol of modernity and the avant-garde, inspiring poets such as Guillaume Apollinaire, film-makers, photographers and numerous painters.”

In a Station at the Metro

Visit these interesting websites:

http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/indexuk.html

http://www.abcparislive.com/

http://www.endex.com/gf/buildings/eiffel/eiffel.html

http://wwwusers.imaginet.fr/~chouard/equation_eiffel_tower.html