The Eiffel Tower Joomla! website
Written by Gev
Bang2Joom blog: The Eiffel Tower website powered by Joomla!
Cost: $1.5 million
Height: 986 feet
Engineer: Gustave Eiffel
The Eiffel Tower history
As Wiki states The Eiffel Tower was built in commemoration of the French Revolution. It was the tallest building in the world when it was unveiled at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. Although it has been surpassed in height by many skyscrapers since then, Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel's chocolate-brown, 984-foot open-lattice wrought-iron tower still is one of the world's number one tourist attractions.
Before the Tower's construction, critics predicted that the Tower would cost too much to build. However, Eiffel's crew assembled the 18,000 pieces of iron in just 21 months, under budget and in time for the fair's opening day. Right after it, Eiffel was given the nickname "magician of iron."
Eiffel was one of the first engineers to recognize the importance of wind forces on tall structures. He designed the surface of his Tower to be so minimal that the wind has virtually nothing to grab onto. All pieces of the Tower form an open lattice of light trusses through which the wind can blow.
During its lifetime, the Eiffel Tower has also witnessed a few strange scenes, including being scaled by a mountaineer in 1954, and parachuted off in 1984 by two Englishmen. In 1923 a journalist rode a bicycle down from the first level. Some accounts say he rode down the stairs, other accounts suggest the exterior of one of the tower's four legs which slope outward.
On the four facades of the tower, the 72 surnames of leading turn-of-the-century French scientists and engineers are engraved in recognition of their contributions to science. This engraving was over painted at the beginning of the 20th century and restored in 1986-1987 by the Société Nouvelle d' Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a company contracted to operate business related to the Tower.
From "Did you know?" series: Interesting facts by numbers!
The Eiffel Tower was one of the first tall structures in the world to contain passenger elevators, and tourists loved them. Elevator ticket sales in the Eiffel Tower regained almost the entire cost of the structure - in just one year! Of the 7.5 million kilowatt hours of electricity used annually, 580 thousand are used exclusively to illuminate the tower. The tower's annual operation also requires the use of 2 tons of paper for tickets, 4 tons of rag or paper wipes, 10,000 applications of detergents, 400 liters of metal cleansers and 25,000 garbage bags.
The Eiffel tower is 320 meters high and weights 7000 tons. It has 1710 steps. The first floor is at 57 meters and 360 steps from the ground, the second at 115 meters and 1060 steps from the ground. The third floor at 274 meters from the ground is only reachable by lift.
The Eiffel Tower shrinks 6 inches in winter. Did you know that the Eiffel Towers restaurant seats 200 people? The restaurant gets its name from it being 95 meters above sea level. By the way the name of the restaurant is Altitude 95.
It took a team of 25 painters to paint the Eiffel Tower. Protecting the Eiffel Tower from rust requires the application of 50 tons of paint every seven years. The Eiffel tower was very nearly demolished in 1909. It was saved by its use as a telecommunication tower.
The Eiffel tower is now one of the most famous buildings in the world and welcomes 5.5 millions visitors each year. On a clear day, it is possible to see 42 miles in every direction from the top of the Eiffel Tower.
The Eiffel Tower is twice as tall as the Washington Monument and weighs 70,000 tons less! In 1925, a con artist sold the Eiffel Tower for scrap - twice!
The Eiffel Tower has 2,500,000 rivets in it. Solar heating can cause the Eiffel Tower to expand up to 3.25 in.The names of 72 French scientists and other famous individuals are permanently affixed to the sides of the tower in 60-centimeter letters just beneath the first platform, with 18 names per side.
Eiffel uses Joomla!
The official Eiffel Tower website uses Joomla!
With the help of Joom!Fish the website runs in French, English, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, German, Chinese, Japanese and Arabic.