It’s exactly 135 years since the Eiffel Tower opened in spring 1889. Today, it still stands high and mighty in Paris, the capital city of France. But what do we know about this incredible structure, and how does it compare with London’s tallest building, The Shard?
The Eiffel Tower
Height: 300 metres (or 330 metres to the tip of its radio antenna!)
Year of opening: 1889
Fun facts about The Eiffel Tower:
- 2.5 million metal fasteners (called rivets) were used to build the tower.
- The total weight of the tower is 10,100 tons — the same as 2,000 adult elephants.
- If you want to walk all the way to the top floor, you’ll climb 1,665 steps.
- After sunset each day, the tower puts on a sparkly light show using 20,000 light bulbs.
- It needs to be painted by hand every seven years, by a team of 50 people. It’s a bronze colour today, but it was once yellow!
The Shard
Height: 309 metres
Year of opening: 2012
Fun facts about The Shard:
- The building has 36 different lifts, which can travel at six metres a second.
- The outside of The Shard is covered in 11,000 glass panels.
- If you took out all the electric wiring in the building and laid it out, it would stretch for 200 miles — almost the exact distance to the Eiffel Tower.
- Around 1,450 workers from 60 countries helped to build it.
- Just before The Shard opened, workers found a fox living on the 72nd floor!
YHA has various family-friendly hostels in central London, and our overseas partner Hostelling International has a great hostel in central Paris!
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