"What am I bid for the Eiffel Tower ?" "Do I hear £300 billion ?!"

Only joking ! Can you guess which is Europe's most visited entrance paying monument, attracting no fewer than 8 million tourists each year ? Yes you've got it, the Eiffel Tower ! And now it has also been declared "the most valuable monument in Europe" as it is worth an estimated £344billion to France’s economy, with regards to numbers of visitors and numbers of jobs created etc as well as tourism and image and brand value for a country. The basic costs of the monuments or buildings and the land they are built on was not taken into account. (findings of a study by Monza and Brianza Chamber of Commerce in Italy.)

The next most valuable European attractions are Rome's Colosseum and then the Tower of London !

Eiffel Tower statistics -

• It is 320m (1,050ft) high. 
• It was built in 1889 at a cost of 8 million francs which is around £30 million today.
• It is named after engineer Gustave Eiffel whose company designed it.
• It took around 2 years to build.
• It was built as a symbol for the Universal Exhibition of 1889.
• It was the tallest monument in the world until New York’s Chrysler Building in 1930.
• It is the most visited attraction in Europe.
• When the temperature is very high, the height of the Tower can increase by up to 18 cm.
• Wind can cause the tower to move sideways - the maximum recorded was a sideways move of 9 cms during the December 1999 storm (don't worry its built to withstand this !).
• Gustave Eiffel also designed and built the framework for Bartholdi’s Statue of Liberty which now stands at the entrance of New York's harbour.

If you would like to plan a visit to the Eiffel Tower you can visit the official website at : http://www.eiffel-tower.com/

There is also a new Children's Discovery Course on Level 1 of the Tower which will help children answer the questions that are published in their excellent Booklet that is given out to Children - http://www.eiffel-tower.com/images/PDF/enfants/livret.pdf

If you would like to stay in a campsite in or near Paris, we have a selection at Best French Campsites at http://www.bestfrenchcampsites.com

 

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