15th December: The Eiffel Tower

This date in 1832 was the birth of Alexander Gustave Eiffel, the French architect who designed the Eiffel Tower. So 10 things you may not know about the Eiffel Tower.

1. Although it's named after him, Gustav Eiffel didn't design the tower. Two of the senior engineers in his company, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, were responsible for that. Eiffel himself wasn't even all that keen on the design until some modifications had been made by the head architect, Stephen Sauvestre.
2. The tower was originally conceived as the centrepiece for the proposed 1889 Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair which would celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution. It was meant to be dismantled after 20 years, but by then, it had proved its usefulness as a radio transmitter and so it stayed. It survived two more attempts to dismantle it - once in 1944, when Hitler demanded it be demolished as the Allies approached Paris, but Dietrich von Choltitz, the military governor of Paris, refused. Then in 1960, Charles de Gaulle proposed temporarily dismantling the tower and sending it to Montreal for Expo 67. The plan was rejected.
3. When it was built, it was the highest man-made structure in the world at 320 metres (1050 feet), beating The Pyramids in Egypt for the first time. It was the tallest building for 41 years, and then the Americans built the Chrysler Building in New York. It remained the tallest building in France until 1973, when it was overtaken by a military transmitter in Saissac.
4. A lot of people hated the design at first. Some didn't think it was even feasible to build; others just didn't like the look of it. A “hateful column of bolted sheet metal”; "useless and monstrous" were some of the criticisms thrown at it. Eiffel responded, "My tower will be the tallest edifice ever erected by man. Will it not also be grandiose in its way? And why would something admirable in Egypt become hideous and ridiculous in Paris?" Guy de Maupassant, one of the tower's biggest critics, allegedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day. When asked why he would do so when he hated the tower so much, he said that he ate there because it was the only place in Paris where he couldn't see the thing.
5. The tower was designed to withstand high winds and sways very little when it is windy. In fact, the Sun makes it sway more than the wind, because the metal on the side facing the sun expands in the heat, so the top moves up to 7 inches (18 centimetres) away from the sun. Similarly, the whole structure expands in hot weather, adding up to 6 inches (15 centimetres) to its height.
6. The tower is repainted every seven years and this takes about 50 tonnes of paint. While on the subject of paint, the tower is not painted in the same colour top to bottom. It is darker at the top. This is to compensate for atmospheric perspective, so that it looks the same colour from top to bottom.
7. The Eiffel Tower shares a nickname with former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The French nickname for the tower is La dame de fer which means the iron lady.
8. The Eiffel Tower has a wife. Her name is Erika La Tour Eiffel. She has an objects fetish, and married the tower in 2008.
9. French car manufacturer Citroen used the tower as a giant billboard between 1925 and 1934 – the company name was emblazoned on the tower using a quarter of a million light bulbs – and was recorded as the world’s biggest advertisement by the Guinness Book of Records.
10. In 1923, Pierre Labric cycled down the steps of the tower for a bet. He won the bet, but the gendarmes were waiting at the bottom to arrest him.