The iconic landmark of the Parisian skyline, the Eiffel Tower has gotten taller recently after vertigo-defying engineers hoisted a new communications antenna at the very top of France's most recognizable monument with the aid of a helicopter.
The tallest building in Paris, known affectionately as the Iron Lady, measures 330 meters (1,082 feet) in height after the new addition – a 6-meter increase to its previous height.
A smattering of tourists watched from the Trocadero esplanade as the new digital radio antenna was helicoptered up and lowered into position on Tuesday morning, with the two engineers tasked with securing it to the structure barely visible from the ground.
The new antenna will be used to transmit digital radio for the capital region.
"It's a moment of great pride, historic, rare in the history of the Eiffel Tower," the head of the tower's operating company, Jean-Francois Martins, told reporters.
"She is returning to her roots as a place of technological and scientific experimentation," he said and added that scientific progress was an integral part of the Iron Lady's 133-year history.
"It's a historical moment this morning, because the Eiffel Tower is getting higher, which is not so common," he said.
"From the invention of the radio at the beginning of the 20th century to right now, decades after decades, the Eiffel Tower has been a partner for all the radio technology," Martins said.
The Eiffel Tower was originally 312 meters high when it was inaugurated on March 31, 1889.
During its construction, the Eiffel Tower surpassed the Washington Monument to become the tallest man-made structure in the world, a title it held for four decades until the Chrysler Building in New York City was topped off in 1929.
The wrought-iron lattice tower is among the most visited tourist sites in the world, according to TripAdvisor.
The masterpiece was built in 1889 to a design by architect Gustave Eiffel, but was meant to be dismantled 20 years later.
In order to save it, Eiffel worked hard to give it a scientific vocation, installing weather-monitoring equipment and encouraging its use for astronomic observation.
It was its role as an important radio-emitting tower, initially for the military, that saved it from destruction, according to its official history.
In the 1910s, it was being used to send telegrams as far as the United States and is credited with picking up German battlefield instructions during World War I.
Its previous antenna was fixed in 2000 and was used for digital television.
