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Golden Gate Bridge is not only an iconic landmark but also an engineering marvel. It was termed as impossible to build but engineers made it possible within reasonable cost and time. For kids it is an important landmark to study so we have gathered a complete set of Golden Gate Bridge Facts For Kids to teach them all about this amazing bridge by answering all the question they may have in their mind about this bridge. Enjoy these Golden Gate Bridge Facts and do share them with your friends and family.

Golden Gate Bridge Facts For Kids

The Golden Gate Bridge is San Francisco's icon landmark and marvel of modern engineering.

It is a suspension bridge that connects San Francisco Bay with the Pacific Ocean. The San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge spans over a 1.6 km (1 mile) wide strait which is known as the Golden Gate.

It is called the Golden Gate Bridge because it spans over a strait named Golden Gate Strait.

The Golden Gate Strait is 1.6 km (1 mile) narrow entrance between the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

In 1846, a US explorer named John C. Fremont named the strait as Golden Gate two years before the actual discovery of gold in California.

It is located in San Francisco and Marin County in the state of California on U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1.

It connects the northern tip of San Francisco Peninsula and Marin County by spanning over the Golden Gate strait.

It was designed by the Architecture firm Strauss Engineering Corp.

The two Architects named Irving Morrow and Charles Alton Ellis worked on its design.

The Engineers who made the bridge included:

Joseph Strauss

Charles Alton Ellis

Leon Moisseiff

Clifford Paine

The Golden Gate Bridge is owned by Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District.

It is a special-purpose district located in the San Francisco Bay Area that owns, maintains and operates the following three regional transportation assets

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Transit

Golden Gate Ferry

It has around 800 employees.

1. San Francisco (south) approach viaduct

2. San Francisco (south) anchorage housing and pylons S1 and S2

3. Fort Point arch

4. Suspension bridge

5. Marin (north) approach viaduct

6. Marin (north) anchorage housing and pylons N1 and N2

Golden Gate Bridge Tower

The bridge has two main towers.

These two towers support the two main cables.

The height of each tower above the water is 746 feet (227 meters) and above the roadway is 500 feet (152 meters).

The combined weight of the two main towers is about 44,000 tons (40,200,000 kg).

The weight of load on each tower due to main cables is 61,500 tons (56,000,000 kg).

11 workers died building the Golden Gate Bridge. Their names are:

Kermit Moore,

O.A. Anderson

Chris Anderson

William Bass

O. Desper

Fred Dümmatzen

Terence Hallinan

Eldridge Hillen

Charles Lindros

Jack Norman

Louis Russell.

The Golden Gate Bridge Color is an orange vermilion also known as international orange.

It was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow as it not only complements the environment but also increases the visibility of the bridge in fog.

All required safety aspects were incorporated in building the bridge.

The design of the bridge accurately takes into account the impact of wind forces on the bridge.

The suspension cables, tower, and the anchors are all engineered to carry on all probable weight.

A number of engineering factors were accounted for during the designing phase such as:

the movement of deck due to its weight

range of environment temperature

wind speed and direction

deck sag between suspension cables

elongation of suspension cables due to stress and temperature.

The Golden Gate Bridge is made out of:

389,000 Cubic Yards (297,475 Cubic Meters) of Concrete.

83,000 tons (75,293,000 kg) of steel.

24,500 tons(22,200,000 kg) of two main cables, 500 suspender cables, and accessories.

1,200,000 rivets

How big is the Golden Gate Bridge

The bridge is 2,737 meters long, 27 meters wide and 67 meter high.

How long is the Golden Gate Bridge - Golden Gate Bridge Length

The Golden Gate Bridge is 1.7 miles (8,981 feet or 2,737 meters) long from abutment to abutment.

The length is about 9,150 feet (2,788 meters) when the approaches from abutment to abutment and the distance to the Toll Plaza is included.

The length of suspension span (both main span and side spans) is 1.2 miles (6,450 feet or 1,966 meters).

The length of the main span (distance between towers) is 4,200 feet (1,280 meters).

Length of a single side span is 1,125 feet (343 meters).

How much does the Golden Gate Bridge Weigh - Golden Gate Bridge Weight

The Golden Gate Bridge weighs 887,000 tons (804,700,00 kg).

The weight of a single anchorage is 60,000 tons (54,400,000 kg).

Its original weight back in 1937 was 894,500 tons (811,500,000 kg) which was reduced due to redecking in 1986.

How wide is the Golden Gate Bridge - Golden Gate Bridge Width

The bridge is about 90 feet (27 meters)wide.

The total width of the roadway is 62 feet (19 meters).

The width of sidewalk is 10 feet (3 meters).

The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge.

A suspension bridge is the kind of bridge in which suspension cables and vertical suspenders are used to hold the deck (on which the road runs). Cables are suspended between the bridge towers and vertical suspender cables are used to hold the weight of the deck which hangs below them.

In 1849, after the Gold Rush boom, it was realized that the value of the land situated at the north of San Francisco Bay can be appreciated if a direct access to San Francisco city is provided.

A plan proposing a bridge spanning over the Golden Gate and connecting the San Francisco Peninsula with the Marin County was presented.

Though the idea of the bridge was presented in 1869 but it was not until 1916 when the actual proposal took place.

James Wilkin, who was an engineering student and working in San Francisco Bulletin, presented the idea of a 3000 feet long suspension bridge.

A $100 million was the estimated cost for such suspension bridge.

Michael M. O'Shaughnessy, who was San Francisco's city engineer, started looking for engineers who could do it for a lower cost.

Joseph Strauss who was an engineer as well as a poet proposed that he can build such a bridge at a lower cost.

O'Shaughnessy and Strauss worked out a plan of building at least 4,000 feet long bridge within cost of $25-30 million.

The project faced many obstacles and litigation from different sources. Then the financing options got limited due the great depression in 1929. It was then in 1932, when Bank of America bought the entire project to help the economy.

Before the construction of Golden Gate Bridge and several other bridges, San Francisco was the largest American city that was still using ferry boats as mode of transportation. The need for a bridge increased with time and as population increased.

People used to get to Marin County from San Francisco through ferries. The available road way through the South Bay and up through the East Bay was very long and would take hours to reach Marin County.

When Golden Gate Bridge was constructed it solved this commute problem between the Marin County and San Francisco. As a result the Bay Area residents were not only able to commute easily to north up the cost but also their businesses flourished.

Historically, it was famous because it was the longest span bridge in the world till 1964 when New York City's Verrazano Narrows Bridge was constructed. The New York City's Verrazano Narrows Bridge is 60 feet longer than the Golden Gate Bridge.

Today it is the ninth-longest suspension bridge in the world.

It is well known for its extraordinary design and is recognized among the world's famous landmark.

It has been a popular photography site and is very famous for its amazing view through the rising fog in the morning. Its orange color against the blue water and green Marin hills at the background along with the white fog makes it spectacular.

Unfortunately it is also known for the most suicide jumps from bridge in the world. Every year, more than 30 people jump to death from it.

A landmark is any natural, artificial, small structures or features of a place that:

stands out in its environment

can be seen from long distances

is used for navigation purposes

is local or national symbol

As per the above definition of landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge do stands our from its environment, is visible from long distances, is used for navigation purpose. So this is why Golden Gate Bridge is a landmark.

The Golden Gate Bridge is made up of six major structures:

25. Golden Gate Bridge Facts for Kids Video

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Golden Gate Bridge Facts For Kids - Facts About the Golden Gate Bridge

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Complete collection of Golden Gate Bridge Facts For Kids that will help you learn all about the Golden Gate Bridge. Learn about its name, importance, location, history, bridge dimensions, structure, construction, cost, architects, people who died, engineering facts and much more with pictures and videos. Best source of information for kids.

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The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California-the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula-to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. It also carries pedestrian and bicycle traffic, and is designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95. Recognized by the American Society of Civil Engineers as one of the Wonders of the Modern World, the bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco and California.

The idea of a fixed link between San Francisco and Marin had gained increasing popularity during the late 19th century, but it was not until the early 20th century that such a link became feasible. Joseph Strauss served as chief engineer for the project, with Leon Moisseiff, Irving Morrow and Charles Ellis making significant contributions to its design. The bridge opened to the public in 1937 and has undergone various retrofits and other improvement projects in the decades since.

The Golden Gate Bridge is described in Frommer's travel guide as "possibly the most beautiful, certainly the most photographed, bridge in the world." At the time of its opening in 1937, it was both the longest and the tallest suspension bridge in the world, titles it held until 1964 and 1998 respectively. Its main span is 4,200 feet (1,280 m) and its total height is 746 feet (227 m).

Before the bridge was built, the only practical short route between San Francisco and what is now Marin County was by boat across a section of San Francisco Bay. A ferry service began as early as 1820, with a regularly scheduled service beginning in the 1840s for the purpose of transporting water to San Francisco.

In 1867, the Sausalito Land and Ferry Company opened. In 1920, the service was taken over by the Golden Gate Ferry Company, which merged in 1929 with the ferry system of the Southern Pacific Railroad, becoming the Southern Pacific-Golden Gate Ferries, Ltd., the largest ferry operation in the world. Once for railroad passengers and customers only, Southern Pacific's automobile ferries became very profitable and important to the regional economy. The ferry crossing between the Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco and Sausalito Ferry Terminal in Marin County took approximately 20 minutes and cost $1.00 per vehicle prior to 1937, when the price was reduced to compete with the new bridge. The trip from the San Francisco Ferry Building took 27 minutes.

Golden Gate with Fort Point in foreground, c. 1891

Although the idea of a bridge spanning the Golden Gate was not new, the proposal that eventually took hold was made in a 1916 San Francisco Bulletin article by former engineering student James Wilkins. San Francisco's City Engineer estimated the cost at $100 million (equivalent to $2.7 billion today), and impractical for the time. He asked bridge engineers whether it could be built for less. One who responded, Joseph Strauss, was an ambitious engineer and poet who had, for his graduate thesis, designed a 55-mile-long (89 km) railroad bridge across the Bering Strait. At the time, Strauss had completed some 400 drawbridges-most of which were inland-and nothing on the scale of the new project. Strauss's initial drawings were for a massive cantilever on each side of the strait, connected by a central suspension segment, which Strauss promised could be built for $17 million (equivalent to $457 million today).

A suspension-bridge design was chosen, using recent advances in bridge design and metallurgy.

Strauss spent more than a decade drumming up support in Northern California. The bridge faced opposition, including litigation, from many sources. The Department of War was concerned that the bridge would interfere with ship traffic. The US Navy feared that a ship collision or sabotage to the bridge could block the entrance to one of its main harbors. Unions demanded guarantees that local workers would be favored for construction jobs. Southern Pacific Railroad, one of the most powerful business interests in California, opposed the bridge as competition to its ferry fleet and filed a lawsuit against the project, leading to a mass boycott of the ferry service.

In May 1924, Colonel Herbert Deakyne held the second hearing on the Bridge on behalf of the Secretary of War in a request to use federal land for construction. Deakyne, on behalf of the Secretary of War, approved the transfer of land needed for the bridge structure and leading roads to the "Bridging the Golden Gate Association" and both San Francisco County and Marin County, pending further bridge plans by Strauss. Another ally was the fledgling automobile industry, which supported the development of roads and bridges to increase demand for automobiles.

The bridge's name was first used when the project was initially discussed in 1917 by M.M. O'Shaughnessy, city engineer of San Francisco, and Strauss. The name became official with the passage of the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District Act by the state legislature in 1923, creating a special district to design, build and finance the bridge. San Francisco and most of the counties along the North Coast of California joined the Golden Gate Bridge District, with the exception being Humboldt County, whose residents opposed the bridge's construction and the traffic it would generate.

South tower seen from walkway, with Art Deco elements

Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the overall design and construction of the bridge project. However, because he had little understanding or experience with cable-suspension designs, responsibility for much of the engineering and architecture fell on other experts. Strauss's initial design proposal (two double cantilever spans linked by a central suspension segment) was unacceptable from a visual standpoint. The final graceful suspension design was conceived and championed by Leon Moisseiff, the engineer of the Manhattan Bridge in New York City.

Irving Morrow, a relatively unknown residential architect, designed the overall shape of the bridge towers, the lighting scheme, and Art Deco elements, such as the tower decorations, streetlights, railing, and walkways. The famous International Orange color was Morrow's personal selection, winning out over other possibilities, including the US Navy's suggestion that it be painted with black and yellow stripes to ensure visibility by passing ships.

Senior engineer Charles Alton Ellis, collaborating remotely with Moisseiff, was the principal engineer of the project. Moisseiff produced the basic structural design, introducing his "deflection theory" by which a thin, flexible roadway would flex in the wind, greatly reducing stress by transmitting forces via suspension cables to the bridge towers. Although the Golden Gate Bridge design has proved sound, a later Moisseiff design, the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, collapsed in a strong windstorm soon after it was completed, because of an unexpected aeroelastic flutter. Ellis was also tasked with designing a "bridge within a bridge" in the southern abutment, to avoid the need to demolish Fort Point, a pre-Civil War masonry fortification viewed, even then, as worthy of historic preservation. He penned a graceful steel arch spanning the fort and carrying the roadway to the bridge's southern anchorage.

The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District, authorized by an act of the California Legislature, was incorporated in 1928 as the official entity to design, construct, and finance the Golden Gate Bridge. However, after the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the District was unable to raise the construction funds, so it lobbied for a $30 million bond measure (equivalent to $511 million today). The bonds were approved in November 1930, by votes in the counties affected by the bridge. The construction budget at the time of approval was $27 million ($473 million today). However, the District was unable to sell the bonds until 1932, when Amadeo Giannini, the founder of San Francisco-based Bank of America, agreed on behalf of his bank to buy the entire issue in order to help the local economy.

Construction began on January 5, 1933. The project cost more than $35 million ($550 million in 2021 dollars), and was completed ahead of schedule and $1.3 million under budget (equivalent to $27.7 million today). The Golden Gate Bridge construction project was carried out by the McClintic-Marshall Construction Co., a subsidiary of Bethlehem Steel Corporation founded by Howard H. McClintic and Charles D. Marshall, both of Lehigh University.

An original rivet replaced during the seismic retrofit after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. A total of 1.2 million steel rivets hold the bridge's two towers together.

Strauss remained head of the project, overseeing day-to-day construction and making some groundbreaking contributions. A graduate of the University of Cincinnati, he placed a brick from his alma mater's demolished McMicken Hall in the south anchorage before the concrete was poured.

Strauss also innovated the use of movable safety netting beneath the men working, which saved many lives. Nineteen men saved by the nets over the course of the project formed the Half Way to Hell Club. Nonetheless eleven men were killed in falls, ten on February 17, 1937, when a scaffold (secured by undersized bolts) with twelve men on it fell into and broke through the safety net; two of the twelve survived the 200-foot (61 m) fall into the water.

The bridge opened May 27, 1937.

The Round House Café diner was then included in the southeastern end of the Golden Gate Bridge, adjacent to the tourist plaza which was renovated in 2012. The Round House Café, an Art Deco design by Alfred Finnila completed in 1938, has been popular throughout the years as a starting point for various commercial tours of the bridge and an unofficial gift shop. The diner was renovated in 2012 and the gift shop was then removed as a new, official gift shop has been included in the adjacent plaza.

During the bridge work, the Assistant Civil Engineer of California Alfred Finnila had overseen the entire iron work of the bridge as well as half of the bridge's road work.

Contributors

Plaque of the major contributors to the Golden Gate Bridge lists contractors, engineering-staff, directors and officers:

Contractors

Foundations - Pacific Bridge Company

Anchorages - Barrett & Hilp

Structural steel - Main span - Bethlehem Steel Company Incorporated

Approach steel - J.H. Pomeroy & Company Incorporated - Raymond Concrete Pile Company

Cables - John A. Roebling's Sons Company

Electrical work - Alta Electric and Mechanical Company Incorporated

Bridge deck - Pacific Bridge Company

Presidio Approach Roads and Viaducts - Easton & Smith

Toll Plaza - Barrett & Hilp

Engineering staff

Chief engineer - Joseph B. Strauss

Principal assistant engineer - Clifford E. Paine

Resident engineer - Russell Cone

Assistant engineer - Charles Clarahan Jr., Dwight N. Wetherell

Consulting engineer - O.H. Ammann, Charles Derleth Jr., Leon S. Moisseiff

Consulting traffic engineer - Sydney W. Taylor, Jr.

Consulting architect - Irving F. Morrow

Consulting geologist - Andrew C. Lawson, Allan E. Sedgwick

Directors

San Francisco - William P. Filmer, Richard J. Welch, Warren Shannon, Hugo D. Newhouse, Arthur M. Brown, Jr., John P. McLaughlin, William D. Hadeler, C.A. Henry, Francis V. Keesling, William P. Stanton, George T. Cameron

Marin County - Robert H. Trumbull, Harry Lutgens

Napa County - Thomas Maxwell

Sonoma County - Frank P. Doyle, Joseph A. McMinn

Mendocino County - A. R. O'Brien

Del Norte County - Henry Westbrook, Jr., Milton M. McVay

Officers

President - William P. Filmer

Vice President - Robert H. Trumbull

General manager - James Reed, Alan McDonald

Chief engineer - Joseph B. Strauss

Secretary - W. W. Felt, Jr.

Auditor - Roy S. West, John R. Ruckstell

Attorney - George H. Harlan

On December 1, 1951, a windstorm revealed swaying and rolling instabilities of the bridge, resulting in its closure. In 1953 and 1954, the bridge was retrofitted with lateral and diagonal bracing that connected the lower chords of the two side trusses. This bracing stiffened the bridge deck in torsion so that it would better resist the types of twisting that had destroyed the Tacoma Narrows Bridge in 1940.

Bridge deck replacement (1982-1986)

The original bridge used a concrete deck. Salt carried by fog or mist reached the rebar, causing corrosion and concrete spalling. From 1982 to 1986, the original bridge deck, in 747 sections, was systematically replaced with a 40% lighter, and stronger, steel orthotropic deck panels, over 401 nights without closing the roadway completely to traffic. The roadway was also widened by two feet, resulting in outside curb lane width of 11 feet, instead of 10 feet for the inside lanes. This deck replacement was the bridge's greatest engineering project since it was built and cost over $68 million.

Opening festivities, and 50th and 75th anniversaries

The Golden Gate Bridge and Fort Point

The bridge-opening celebration in 1937 began on May 27 and lasted for one week. The day before vehicle traffic was allowed, 200,000 people crossed either on foot or on roller skates. On opening day, Mayor Angelo Rossi and other officials rode the ferry to Marin, then crossed the bridge in a motorcade past three ceremonial "barriers," the last a blockade of beauty queens who required Joseph Strauss to present the bridge to the Highway District before allowing him to pass. An official song, " There's a Silver Moon on the Golden Gate," was chosen to commemorate the event. Strauss wrote a poem that is now on the Golden Gate Bridge entitled "The Mighty Task is Done." The next day, President Franklin D. Roosevelt pushed a button in Washington, D.C. signaling the official start of vehicle traffic over the Bridge at noon. Weeks of civil and cultural activities called "the Fiesta" followed. A statue of Strauss was moved in 1955 to a site near the bridge.

As part of the fiftieth anniversary celebration in 1987, the Golden Gate Bridge district again closed the bridge to automobile traffic and allowed pedestrians to cross it on May 24. This Sunday morning celebration attracted 750,000 to 1,000,000 people, and ineffective crowd control meant the bridge became congested with roughly 300,000 people, causing the center span of the bridge to flatten out under the weight. Although the bridge is designed to flex in that way under heavy loads, and was estimated not to have exceeded 40% of the yielding stress of the suspension cables, bridge officials stated that uncontrolled pedestrian access was not being considered as part of the 75th anniversary on Sunday, May 27, 2012, because of the additional law enforcement costs required "since 9/11."

Opening of the Golden Gate Bridge

Official invitation to the opening of the bridge. This copy was sent to the City of Seattle.

On the 50th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge in 1987, individuals and organizations were invited to buy a commemorative brick to fund the 50th anniversary celebration. Those bricks were installed on the ground creating a brick promenade. Its location is shown on the map.

More than 7,500 donors responded, personalizing their brick with inscriptions and tributes.

Unfortunately, 25 years later, for the upcoming 75th of the Golden Gate Bridge, the need for a DDA compliant area, as the slope was too steep, implied remodeling the whole promenade. Doing so, and contractors being unable to properly take bricks out one by one, the brick promenade was demolished and the contributors were unable to get their bricks back.

However, to honor and respect their contributions, all the donors' names and the inscriptions they had chosen for their bricks have been preserved and written on panels.

The panels are located inside the "Equator Coffees", on its rounded walls. The names and inscriptions are listed in the alphabetical order, to make them easier to read and find.

This website has been keeping a maps view of the original brick promenade and the database of all donors' names and inscriptions, to help find and locate them on the original layout. As of October 2022, the website is currently down.

Until 1964, the Golden Gate Bridge had the longest suspension bridge main span in the world, at 4,200 feet (1,300 m). Since 1964 its main span length has been surpassed by seventeen bridges; it now has the second-longest main span in the Americas, after the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge in New York City. The total length of the Golden Gate Bridge from abutment to abutment is 8,981 feet (2,737 m).

The Golden Gate Bridge's clearance above high water averages 220 feet (67 m) while its towers, at 746 feet (227 m) above the water, were the world's tallest on a suspension bridge until 1993 when it was surpassed by the Mezcala Bridge, in Mexico.

The weight of the roadway is hung from 250 pairs of vertical suspender ropes, which are attached to two main cables. The main cables pass over the two main towers and are fixed in concrete at each end. Each cable is made of 27,572 strands of wire. The total length of galvanized steel wire used to fabricate both main cables is estimated to be 80,000 miles (130,000 km). Each of the bridge's two towers has approximately 600,000 rivets.

In the 1960s, when the Bay Area Rapid Transit system (BART) was being planned, the engineering community had conflicting opinions about the feasibility of running train tracks north to Marin County over the bridge. In June 1961, consultants hired by BART completed a study that determined the bridge's suspension section was capable of supporting service on a new lower deck. In July 1961, one of the bridge's consulting engineers, Clifford Paine, disagreed with their conclusion. In January 1962, due to more conflicting reports on feasibility, the bridge's board of directors appointed an engineering review board to analyze all the reports. The review board's report, released in April 1962, concluded that running BART on the bridge was not advisable.

Aesthetics was the foremost reason why the first design of Joseph Strauss was rejected. Upon re-submission of his bridge construction plan, he added details, such as lighting, to outline the bridge's cables and towers. In 1999, it was ranked fifth on the List of America's Favorite Architecture by the American Institute of Architects.

The color of the bridge is officially an orange vermilion called international orange. The color was selected by consulting architect Irving Morrow because it complements the natural surroundings and enhances the bridge's visibility in fog.

The bridge was originally painted with red lead primer and a lead-based topcoat, which was touched up as required. In the mid-1960s, a program was started to improve corrosion protection by stripping the original paint and repainting the bridge with zinc silicate primer and vinyl topcoats. Since 1990, acrylic topcoats have been used instead for air-quality reasons. The program was completed in 1995 and it is now maintained by 38 painters who touch up the paintwork where it becomes seriously corroded. The ongoing maintenance task of painting the bridge is continuous.

Testing the newly installed movable barrier

Most maps and signage mark the bridge as part of the concurrency between U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1. Although part of the National Highway System, the bridge is not officially part of California's Highway System. For example, under the California Streets and Highways Code § 401, Route 101 ends at "the approach to the Golden Gate Bridge" and then resumes at "a point in Marin County opposite San Francisco". The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District has jurisdiction over the segment of highway that crosses the bridge instead of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans).

The movable median barrier between the lanes is moved several times daily to conform to traffic patterns. On weekday mornings, traffic flows mostly southbound into the city, so four of the six lanes run southbound. Conversely, on weekday afternoons, four lanes run northbound. During off-peak periods and weekends, traffic is split with three lanes in each direction.

From 1968 to 2015, opposing traffic was separated by small, plastic pylons; during that time, there were 16 fatalities resulting from 128 head-on collisions. To improve safety, the speed limit on the Golden Gate Bridge was reduced from 50 to 45 mph (80 to 72 km/h) on October 1, 1983. Although there had been discussion concerning the installation of a movable barrier since the 1980s, only in March 2005 did the Bridge Board of Directors commit to finding funding to complete the $2 million study required prior to the installation of a movable median barrier. Installation of the resulting barrier was completed on January 11, 2015, following a closure of 45.5 hours to private vehicle traffic, the longest in the bridge's history. The new barrier system, including the zipper trucks, cost approximately $30.3 million to purchase and install.

The bridge carries about 112,000 vehicles per day according to the Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District.

Looking north with traffic and current flow into the bay with sailboats

The bridge is popular with pedestrians and bicyclists, and was built with walkways on either side of the six vehicle traffic lanes. Initially, they were separated from the traffic lanes by only a metal curb, but railings between the walkways and the traffic lanes were added in 2003, primarily as a measure to prevent bicyclists from falling into the roadway. The bridge was designated as part of U.S. Bicycle Route 95 in 2021.

The main walkway is on the eastern side, and is open for use by both pedestrians and bicycles in the morning to mid-afternoon during weekdays (5:00 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.), and to pedestrians only for the remaining daylight hours (until 6:00 p.m., or 9:00 p.m. during DST). The eastern walkway is reserved for pedestrians on weekends (5:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., or 9:00 p.m. during DST), and is open exclusively to bicyclists in the evening and overnight, when it is closed to pedestrians. The western walkway is open only for bicyclists and only during the hours when they are not allowed on the eastern walkway.

Bus service across the bridge is provided by two public transportation agencies: San Francisco Muni and Golden Gate Transit. Muni offers Saturday and Sunday service on the Marin Headlands Express bus line, and Golden Gate Transit runs numerous bus lines throughout the week. The southern end of the bridge, near the toll plaza and parking lot, is also accessible daily from 5:30 a.m. to midnight by Muni line 28. The Marin Airporter, a private company, also offers service across the bridge between Marin County and San Francisco International Airport.

A visitor center and gift shop, originally called the "Bridge Pavilion" (since renamed the "Golden Gate Bridge Welcome Center"), is located on the San Francisco side of the bridge, adjacent to the southeast parking lot. It opened in 2012, in time for the bridge's 75th-anniversary celebration. A cafe, outdoor exhibits, and restroom facilities are located nearby. On the Marin side of the bridge, only accessible from the northbound lanes, is the H. Dana Bower Rest Area and Vista Point, named after the first landscape architect for the California Division of Highways.

Lands and waters under and around the bridge are homes to varieties of wildlife such as bobcats, harbor seals, and sea lions. Three species of cetaceans (whales) that had been absent in the area for many years have shown recent[when? ] recoveries/(re)colonizations in the vicinity of the bridge; researchers studying them have encouraged stronger protections and recommended that the public watch them from the bridge or from land, or use a local whale watching operator.

Current toll rates

Tolls are only collected from southbound traffic at the toll plaza on the San Francisco side of the bridge. All-electronic tolling has been in effect since 2013, and drivers may either pay using the FasTrak electronic toll collection device, using the license plate tolling program, or via a one time payment online. Effective July 1, 2023, the regular toll rate for passenger cars is $9, with FasTrak users paying a discounted toll of $8.75. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles carrying three or more people, or motorcycles may pay a discounted toll of $6.75 if they have FasTrak and use the designated carpool lane. Drivers must pay within 48 hours after crossing the bridge or they will be sent a toll violation invoice. The toll violation penalty is $9.75, and additional fees will be added if it is not paid within 21 days.

Historical toll rates

When the Golden Gate Bridge opened in 1937, the toll was 50cents per car (equivalent to $10.18 in 2022), collected in each direction. In 1950 it was reduced to 40cents each way ($4.87 in 2022), then lowered to 25cents in 1955 ($2.73 in 2022). In 1968, the bridge was converted to only collect tolls from southbound traffic, with the toll amount reset back to 50cents ($4.21 in 2022).

The bridge began accepting tolls via the FasTrak electronic toll collection system in 2002, with $4 tolls for FasTrak users and $5 for those paying cash (equivalent to $6.51 and $8.14 respectively in 2022). In November 2006, the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District recommended a corporate sponsorship program for the bridge to address its operating deficit, projected at $80 million over five years. The District promised that the proposal, which it called a "partnership program", would not include changing the name of the bridge or placing advertising on the bridge itself. In October 2007, the Board unanimously voted to discontinue the proposal and seek additional revenue through other means, most likely a toll increase. The District later increased the toll amounts in 2008 to $5 for FasTrak users and $6 to those paying cash (equivalent to $6.8 and $8.16 respectively in 2022).

In an effort to save $19.2 million over the following 10 years, the Golden Gate District voted in January 2011 to eliminate all toll takers by 2012 and use only open road tolling. Subsequently, this was delayed and toll taker elimination occurred in March 2013. The cost savings have been revised to $19 million over an eight-year period. In addition to FasTrak, the Golden Gate Transportation District implemented the use of license plate tolling (branded as "Pay-by-Plate"), and also a one-time payment system for drivers to pay before or after their trip on the bridge. Twenty-eight positions were eliminated as part of this plan.

On April 7, 2014, the toll for users of FasTrak was increased from $5 to $6 (equivalent to $7.42 in 2022), while the toll for drivers using either the license plate tolling or the one time payment system was raised from $6 to $7 (equivalent to $8.65 in 2022). Bicycle, pedestrian, and northbound motor vehicle traffic remain toll free. For vehicles with more than two axles, the toll rate was $7 per axle for those using license plate tolling or the one time payment system, and $6 per axle for FasTrak users. During peak traffic hours, carpool vehicles carrying two or more people and motorcycles paid a discounted toll of $4 (equivalent to $4.94 in 2022); drivers must have had Fastrak to take advantage of this carpool rate. The Golden Gate Transportation District then increased the tolls by 25cents in July 2015, and then by another 25cents each of the next three years.

In March 2019, the Golden Gate Transportation District approved a plan to implement 35-cent annual toll increases through 2023, except for the toll-by-plate program which will increase by 20cents per year.

In March 2008, the Golden Gate Bridge District board approved a resolution to start congestion pricing at the Golden Gate Bridge, charging higher tolls during the peak hours, but rising and falling depending on traffic levels. This decision allowed the Bay Area to meet the federal requirement to receive $158 million in federal transportation funds from USDOT Urban Partnership grant. As a condition of the grant, the congestion toll was to be in place by September 2009.

In August 2008, transportation officials ended the congestion pricing program in favor of varying rates for metered parking along the route to the bridge including on Lombard Street and Van Ness Avenue.

The Golden Gate Bridge is the most used suicide site in the world. The deck is about 245 feet (75 m) above the water. After a fall of four seconds, jumpers hit the water at around 75 mph (120 km/h; 30 m/s). Most die from impact trauma. About 5% survive the initial impact but generally drown or die of hypothermia in the cold water.

After years of debate and an estimated more than 1,500 deaths, suicide barriers, consisting of a stainless steel net extending 20 feet from the bridge and supported by structural steel 20 feet under the walkway, began to be installed in April 2017. Construction was first estimated to take approximately four years at a cost of over $200 million. In December 2019, it was reported that construction of the suicide prevention net had fallen two years behind schedule because the lead contractor, Shimmick Construction Co., had been sold in 2017, leading to the slowdown of several existing projects. As of December 2019, the completion date for the Golden Gate Bridge net was set for 2023.

The Golden Gate Bridge was designed to safely withstand winds of up to 68 mph (109 km/h). Until 2008, the bridge was closed because of weather conditions only three times: on December 1, 1951, because of gusts of 69 mph (111 km/h); on December 23, 1982, because of winds of 70 mph (113 km/h); and on December 3, 1983, because of wind gusts of 75 mph (121 km/h). An anemometer placed midway between the two towers on the west side of the bridge has been used to measure wind speeds. Another anemometer was placed on one of the towers.

As part of the retrofitting of the bridge and installation of the suicide barrier, starting in 2019 the railings on the west side of the pedestrian walkway were replaced with thinner, more flexible slats in order to improve the bridge's aerodynamic tolerance of high wind to 100 mph (161 km/h). Starting in June 2020, reports were received of a loud hum, heard across San Francisco and Marin County, produced by the new railing slats when a strong west wind was blowing. The sound had been predicted from wind tunnel tests, but not included in the environmental impact report; ways of ameliorating it are being considered. An independent engineering analysis of a 2020 sound recording of the tones concludes that the singing noise comprises a variety of Aeolian tones (the sound produced by air flowing past a sharp edge), arising in this case from the ambient wind blowing across metal slats of the newly installed sidewalk railings. The tones observed were frequencies of 354, 398, 439 and 481 Hz, corresponding to the musical notes F ₄, G ₄, A ₄, and B ₄; these notes form an F Lydian Tetrachord.

South approach sub-structure with seismic isolators (short black cylinders) added as part of the Seismic Retrofit Construction Project

Modern knowledge of the effect of earthquakes on structures led to a program to retrofit the Golden Gate to better resist seismic events. The proximity of the bridge to the San Andreas Fault places it at risk for a significant earthquake. Once thought to have been able to withstand any magnitude of foreseeable earthquake, the bridge was actually vulnerable to complete structural failure (i.e., collapse) triggered by the failure of supports on the 320-foot (98 m) arch over Fort Point. A $392 million program was initiated to improve the structure's ability to withstand such an event with only minimal (repairable) damage. A custom-built electro-hydraulic synchronous lift system for construction of temporary support towers and a series of intricate lifts, transferring the loads from the existing bridge onto the temporary supports, were completed with engineers from Balfour Beatty and Enerpac, without disrupting day-to-day commuter traffic. Although the retrofit was initially planned to be completed in 2012, as of May 2017 it was expected to take several more years.

The former elevated approach to the Golden Gate Bridge through the San Francisco Presidio, known as Doyle Drive, dated to 1933 and was named after Frank P. Doyle. Doyle, the president of the Exchange Bank in Santa Rosa and son of the bank's founder, was the man who, more than any other person, made it possible to build the Golden Gate Bridge. The highway carried about 91,000 vehicles each weekday between downtown San Francisco and the North Bay and points north. The road was deemed "vulnerable to earthquake damage", had a problematic 4-lane design, and lacked shoulders; a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study recommended that it be replaced. Construction on the $1 billion replacement, temporarily known as the Presidio Parkway, began in December 2009. The elevated Doyle Drive was demolished on the weekend of April 27-30, 2012, and traffic used a part of the partially completed Presidio Parkway, until it was switched onto the finished Presidio Parkway on the weekend of July 9-12, 2015. As of May 2012, an official at Caltrans said there is no plan to permanently rename the portion known as Doyle Drive.

1. Denton, Harry et al. (2004) "Lonely Planet San Francisco" Lonely Planet, United States, ISBN 1-74104-154-6

2. ^ Levine, Dan (1993). Frommer's comprehensive travel guide, California '93. New York: Prentice Hall Travel. p. 118. ISBN 0671846744.

3. ^ McGrath, Nancy (1985). Frommer's 1985-86 guide to San Francisco. New York: Frommer/Pasmantier Pub. p. 10. ISBN 0671526545.

4. Sigmund, Pete (2006). "The Golden Gate: 'The Bridge That Couldn't Be Built'". Construction Equipment Guide.

5. ^ Barnard, Hanes, Rubin, Kvitek (July 18, 2006). "Giant Sand Waves at the Mouth of San Francisco Bay" (PDF). Eos. 87 (29): 285. Bibcode:2006EOSTr..87..285B. doi:10.1029/2006EO290003. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 18, 2018.

6. Miller, John B. (2002) "Case Studies in Infrastructure Delivery" ^ Springer, ISBN 0-7923-7652-8.

7. ^ Gudde, Erwin G. (1949). California Place Names. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 130. OCLC 37647557.

8. ^ Billah, K.; Scanlan, R. (1991). "Resonance, Tacoma Narrows Bridge Failure" (PDF). American Journal of Physics. Undergraduate Physics Textbooks. 59 (2): 118-124. doi:10.1119/1.16590. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 19, 2000.

9. Jackson, Donald C. (1995) "Great American Bridges and Dams" ^ John Wiley and Sons, ISBN 0-471-14385-5

10. United States ^ Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.

11. King, John (May 25, 2012). "Golden Gate Bridge's Plaza Flawed but Workable". San Francisco Chronicle.

12. Kligman, David (May 25, 2012). "From Sea to Shining Sea: PG&E's Earley Joins Tribute to Golden Gate Bridge". Currents. PG&E. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013.

13. San Francisco Examiner. May 27, 1982. No. 147, p. 2. ^ Golden Gate Bridge - 45th anniversary of completion.

14. ^ Pollalis, Spiro N.; Otto, Caroline (1990). "The Golden Gate Bridge" (PDF). Harvard Design School. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 11, 2011.

15. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions about the Golden Gate Bridge: How many rivets are in each tower of the Golden Gate Bridge?". goldengatebridge.org. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. Retrieved November 5, 2018.

16. ^ "Rapid Transit for the San Francisco Bay Area" (PDF). LA Metro Library. Parsons Brinckerhoff / Tudor / Bechtel. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 17, 2016.

17. ^ Ammann, Othmar H.; Masters, Frank M.; Newmark, Nathan M. (April 1962). Report on Proposed Installation of Rapid Transit Trains on Golden Gate Bridge (Report). Golden Gate Bridge And Highway District. p. 8.

18. ^ Rodriguez, Joseph A.; Urban Rivalry in the San Francisco Bay Area in the 1930s (2000). "Planning". Journal of Planning Education and Research. 20: 66-76. doi:10.1177/073945600128992609. S2CID 143841247.

19. ^ Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District (2018). "Painting the Bridge". goldengatebridge.org. The Bridge is painted continuously. Painting the Bridge is an ongoing task and a primary maintenance job.

20. ^ 2015 Named Freeways, Highways, Structures and Other Appurtenances in California (PDF). California Department of Transportation. pp. 183, 205. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 12, 2012.

21. The ^ SFGate. 2015. Whale, sea lions put on a show near Golden Gate Bridge. Retrieved on July 30, 2017

22. Woodrow M.. 2017. ^ Experts concerned about whale safety in San Francisco Bay. The ABC7. Retrieved on July 30, 2017

23. ^ "Summary of Recommendations, February 27, 2014" (PDF). Board of Directors. Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District. pp. 5-6. Archived (PDF) from the original on August 20, 2021.

24. ^ Bone, James (October 13, 2008). "Golden Gate bridge in San Fransico [sic] gets safety net to deter suicides". The Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2017 - via Journalisted.

25. ^ "Golden Gate Bridge Suicide Deterrent Net Project Update" (PDF) (press release). Golden Gate Bridge Highway & Transportation District. December 12, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 5, 2020.

26. ^ Chamings, Andrew (July 1, 2020). "Golden Gate Bridge officials look to fix 'screeching that sounds like torture'". San Francisco Chronicle.

27. ^ Nolte, Carl (May 28, 2007). "70 Years: Spanning the Golden Gate: New will blend in with the old as part of bridge earthquake retrofit project". San Francisco Chronicle.

28. ^ "Smith: It's wrecked, but it's still 'Doyle Drive'". Press Democrat. May 1, 2012. Archived from the original on March 13, 2014.

Cassady, Stephen (1979). Spanning the Gate (Commemorative edition, 1987 ed.). Squarebooks. ISBN 978-0916290368.

Dyble, Louise Nelson; the Golden Gate Bridge (2009). Paying the Toll: Local Power, Regional Politics. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812222784.

Friend, Tad (October 13, 2003). "Jumpers: The fatal grandeur of the Golden Gate Bridge". The New Yorker. Vol. 79, no. 30. p. 48. Archived from the original on November 8, 2006.

Guthman, Edward; an easy route to death have long made the Golden Gate Bridge a magnet for suicides (October 30, 2005). "Lethal Beauty / The Allure: Beauty". San Francisco Chronicle.

Schwartz, Harvey (2015). Building the Golden Gate Bridge: A Workers' Oral History. University of Washington Press. ISBN 978-0295995069.

Starr, Kevin (2010). Golden Gate: The Life and Times of America's Greatest Bridge. Bloomsbury Press. ISBN 978-1-59691-534-3.

"Golden Gate Bridge Natural Frequencies". Vibrationdata.com. April 5, 2006.

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The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California-the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula-to Marin County, carrying both U.S.

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Facts on the Leaning Tower of Pisa [told by kids]

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13 Facts about The Statue of Liberty - History and Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi

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Facts about the Statue of Liberty for Kids

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Kids learn about the Statue of Liberty including how it was made, what it represents, the design and symbolism, how tall she is, and interesting facts. Educational article for students, schools, and teachers.

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Kids View: Sydney Opera House (Insider tips from local kids)

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Colosseum History, Facts and Secrets - Fun Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi

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Are you doing a class project on the Romans? Has your teacher asked you to find out about the the world's greatest amphitheatres? Or maybe you just love anything to do with blood and gore...

Well, it doesn't matter why you're here. Because soon you'll have 12 Colosseum facts up your sleeve to entertain your friends and impress your parents.

Colosseum Facts for Kids

The Colosseum is an oval shaped Roman amphitheatre in Rome, Italy. It's sometimes known as the Flavian Amphitheatre because it was built during the Flavian dynasty. The Flavian dynasty, or family, ruled the Roman Empire between 69 AD and 96 AD.

It is the largest amphitheatre in the world and is made of stone and concrete.

Construction was started by Emperor Vespasian in 72 AD and was finished in 81 AD by Titus, Vespasian's successor. This means it took only 9 years to build, which is impressive even by today's standards for an amphitheatre of that size.

The Colosseum was used as a games arena for gladiator contests, executions, mock battles (including sea battles) and animal hunts. Gladiators were armed warriors, usually slaves, who entertained Roman audiences by fighting in the arena.

Gladiator games lasted for nearly a thousand years, and were most popular between the 1st century BC and the 2nd century AD. The games declined during the early 5th century when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Vespasian's youngest son added tunnels underneath the Colosseum to hold the slaves and animals that were going to be used in events. The underground tunnels connected different parts of the arena. One led to the gladiator school, which was used as the gladiators' entrance to the arena. Another connected to the Imperial Palace, which was a special tunnel for the Emperor.

The Colosseum could hold between 50,000 and 80,000 spectators. It had box seats for wealthy and powerful people, just like modern day stadiums. Food and entry to the Colosseum was free to all who were attending events there.

Many people died in the Colosseum during its time as an entertainment venue, possibly as many as 400,000. And even more animals were killed in the great Roman amphitheatre.

The Colosseum has become a symbol against the death penalty. Today, any time anyone in the world has their death sentence overturned, or they are released, the colours of the Colosseum night time light display change from white to gold. This also occurs whenever a country stops using the death penalty.

The Colosseum is also still a strong symbol of Imperial Rome, despite being damaged by earthquakes and stone-robbers. Imperial Rome is what historians call the period of time that Rome was ruled by Emperors. For a long time before that, it was a Republic; it had no Emperors and was ruled by a senate (a council of leaders).

It is thought that the name Colosseum came from the large statue, or Colossus, of Emperor Nero that stood nearby, which was named after the Colossus of Rhodes.

Today, you can see what it might have been like to watch a battle in the Colosseum by watching the movie, Gladiator, starring Russell Crowe

Question: How long did it take to build the Colosseum?
Answer: 9 years.

Question: Which Emperor began its construction?
Answer: Vespasian.

Question: How much did food cost for people watching events at the Colosseum?
Answer: It was free!

Question: Name a type of event that was held in the Colosseum.
Answer: You could have had gladiator contests, mock battles, executions, animal hunts

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Are you doing a class project on the Romans? Has your teacher asked you to find out about the the world's greatest amphitheatres? Or maybe you just love anything to do with blood and gore... Well, it doesn't matter why you're here. Because soon you'll have 12 Colosseum facts up your sleeve to entertain your ...

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The Colosseum

History >> Ancient Rome
The Colosseum is a giant amphitheatre in the center of Rome, Italy. It was built during the Roman Empire.

Roman Colosseum by Kevin Brintnall

When was it built?

Construction on the Colosseum was started in 72 AD by the emperor Vespasian. It was finished eight years later in 80 AD.

How big was it?

The Colosseum was huge. It could seat 50,000 people. It covers around 6 acres of land and is 620 feet long, 512 feet wide, and 158 feet tall. It took more than 1.1 million tons of concrete, stone, and bricks to complete the Colosseum.

Seating

Where people sat in the Colosseum was determined by Roman law. The best seats were reserved for the Senators. Behind them were the equestrians or ranking government officials. A bit higher up sat the ordinary Roman citizens (men) and the soldiers. Finally, at the top of the stadium sat the slaves and the women.

Seating inside the Colosseum was according to social status
by Ningyou at Wikimedia Commons

Emperor's Box

The best seat in the house belonged to the emperor who sat in the Emperor's Box. Of course, a lot of times it was the emperor who was paying for the games. This was one way for the emperor to make the people happy and to keep them liking him.

Underground Passages

Below the Colosseum was a labyrinth of underground passages called the hypogeum. These passages allowed for animals, actors, and gladiators to suddenly appear in the middle of the arena. They would use trap doors to add in special effects such as scenery.

Construction

The walls of the Colosseum were built with stone. They made use of a number of arches in order to keep the weight down, but yet still keep them strong. There were four different levels that could be accessed by stairs. Who could enter each level was carefully controlled. The floor of the Colosseum was wooden and covered with sand.

Interior of the Colosseum. Photo by Jebulon.

Colossus

Outside of the Colosseum was an enormous 30 foot bronze statue of the emperor Nero called the Colossus of Nero. It was later turned into a statue of the Sun god Sol Invictus. Some historians believe that the name for the Colosseum comes from the Colossus.

The Velarium

To keep the hot sun and the rain off of spectators, there was a retractable awning called the velarium. There were 240 wooden masts around the top of the stadium to support the awning. Roman sailors were used to put up the velarium when it was needed.

Entrances

The Colosseum had 76 entrances and exits. This was to help the thousands of people to exit the arena in case of a fire or other emergency. The passages to the seating areas were called vomitoria. The public entrances were each numbered and spectators had a ticket that said where they were supposed to enter.

Why is it spelled that way?

The original name for the Colosseum was the Amphitheatrum Flavium, but it eventually became known as the Colosseum. The normal spelling for a generic large amphitheater used for sports and other entertainment is "coliseum". However, when referring to the one in Rome, it is capitalized and spelled "Colosseum".

Interesting Facts about the Colosseum

Certain classes of people were banned from attending the Colosseum. They included former gladiators, actors, and gravediggers.

There were 32 different trap doors underneath the floor of the stadium.

The first ever games at the Colosseum lasted for 100 days and included more than 3,000 gladiator fights.

The west exit was called the Gate of Death. This was where dead gladiators were carried out of the arena.

The southern side of the Colosseum collapsed during a large earthquake in 847.

Activities

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History >> Ancient Rome

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Kids learn about the Colosseum of Ancient Rome. A huge amphitheatre for gladiator fights and other entertainment.

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Kids learn about the lost city of Machu Picchu of the Inca Empire including who found it, how it was built, and who lived there.

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Peru: Machu Picchu - Travel Kids in South America

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Guide to Machu Picchu for Children: Lost City of the Inca for Kids - FreeSchool

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As the name suggests, Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, Australia. It is a very well recognized and unique structure on the shores of Sydney harbor. It is one of the most famous performing arts center in the world. The building is shaped like sails of a boat. It stands in the middle of the ocean just like a peninsula. The land on which the building stands is called Bennelong point and was once home to a magnificent fort. It is probably the most photographed building in Australia. Over the years, the building has become synonymous with Australia.

Sydney Opera House came to life as a simple suggestion from an Australian man named Eugene Goossens, an influential name in the world of art and theatre in 1940s. He suggested the need for a bigger venue for large theatrical productions. As the performances were getting larger, the venue usually used for such productions - The Sydney town hall, was not proving big enough. It was also Goossens idea that the new opera house should come at up Bennelong point for its outstanding location.

All that decided, in 1955, a design competition was launched in search of an architect skilled enough to design a unique structure that could be used not only for operas but could also be a venue for musical and ballet concerts, meetings and lectures. Architects across the world sent their entries and shared their ideas about the multi venue performing arts centre that could hold thousands of spectators. After a search of nearly two years, in 1957. The winner turned out to be a Danish architect Jorn Utzon and work on the opera house started.

But it was not until 1973 that the opera house opened up. It took almost 15 years, 10,0000 construction workers and $102 million to complete the project. Phew! Guess it was not that easy to build a structure that was so different.

Today, Opera house has become popular world wide because of its groundbreaking modern architecture. It has been often considered as the greatest architectural work of 20th century. That is the reason that although it has opened up as recently as in 1973, it is already a UNESCO World Heritage site. Compare that to the ancient sites like Pyramids of Egypt and Colosseum of Rome.

How unique is this?
The topaz coloured glass used in the Sydney opera house was made to order by a French company in a shade that is used only by the opera house and no other building around the world.

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As the name suggests, Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, Australia. It is a very well recognized and unique structure on the shores of Sydney harbor. It is one of the most famous performing arts center in the world. The building is shaped like sails of a boat.

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Opera House Sydney Australia - History and Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi

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Learn the history about the Great Wall of China. How it was built and why, including the length and the dynasties that built it.

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The Taj Mahal is a mausoleum located on the south bank of the Yamuna river in the Indian city of Agra.

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Calling all young historians and budding archaeologists - we're off to investigate the mysteries behind a perplexing prehistoric puzzle! Up for joining? Then check out our fascinating Stonehenge facts...
What is Stonehenge?

Found on England's Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire, Stonehenge is a huge man-made circle of standing stones. Built by our ancestors over many hundreds of years, it's one of the world's most famous prehistoric monuments ... And one of it's biggest mysteries, too!

When was Stonehenge built?

Work started on this super stone circle around 5,000 years ago in the late Neolithic Age - but it took over 1,000 years to build, in four long stages! Archaeologists believe the final changes were made around 1,500BC, in the early Bronze Age.

The structure of Stonehenge

If you visit Stonehenge today, you'll see many of the enormous stones still standing strong in a circular arrangement. Archaeological research shows that the structure of this amazing monument changed over time, as it was built and rebuilt by generations of ancient peoples.

4,000 years ago, Stonehenge was made up of an outer circle of 30 standing stones called ' sarsens', which surrounded five huge stone arches in a horseshoe shape. There were also two circles made of smaller ' bluestones' - one inside the outer circle and one inside the horseshoe - as well as four ' station stones ' positioned outside the central monument. The entire site was surrounded by a circular ditch and bank, which also remains this day!

How was Stonehenge built?

It's a question that has baffled people for centuries - and even to this day, no theory has been proven! How could people thousands of years ago have transported and arranged such colossal stones?

A legend from the 12 th century claimed giants placed the monument on a mountain in Ireland, before a wizard named Merlin magically moved the stone circle to England. It's a shame they didn't really have a wizard to help them - they could have done with the help...

The lighter bluestones weigh about 3,600kg each (that's the same as two cars!), while the bigger sarsen stones each weigh a whopping 22 tonnes - that's as heavy as four African elephants! Archaeologists believe that the sarsen stones were hauled to the site on big wooden sledges from 32km away, but the bluestones have been traced to rock outcrops 225km away in Wales! It's thought they could have been dragged on sledges to a waterway and then floated on rafts to the building site.

Shaping the stones would have required hundreds of hours of hard graft with stone hammers and chisels. But how were the ginormous boulders lifted to their standing position? Well, it's thought that first, the builders dug deep ditches for the base of the boulders. They then used ropes and strong wooden poles and frames to raise them up, before packing the ditches with rocks and rubble to hold them in place. And voilà - job done!

Brand new discovery!

It seems that Stonehenge may have originally been built in Wales! Evidence of a stone circle suspiciously similar to Stonehenge has just been discovered in Wales, very near to the quarry where some of the bluestones originate from.

It looks like these huge stones may have stood in Wales for many years, before they were uprooted and dragged to Wiltshire to form the Stonehenge we know today. Phew - that sounds like hard work!

What was Stonehenge used for?

Once again, no one really knows for sure. But the stones themselves give us a few clues, which have given rise to many different theories...

Each year, on 21 June (the longest day of the year), the sun always rises over the Heel Stone at Stonehenge - a single large sarsen stone which stands outside of the main monument. And the sun always sets over the Heel Stone on the shortest day of the year. Therefore, researchers believe that Stonehenge may have been a ' calendar ', linked to the study of the stars.

Other theories suggest that the site could have been a place of healing where sick people flocked in hope of being cured by the monument's miraculous powers. Others think the site may have been a kind of Stone Age 'computer' that credited solar or lunar eclipses - or a temple to the sun or moon gods.

But one thing is for sure - Stonehenge was used as a cemetery. Experts estimate that about 200 people are buried on the grounds. They also think that important funeral ceremonies would have been performed at the site - though why the dead were laid to rest there, no one knows...

Did you know...?Each year, around 20,000 people gather at Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer Solstice, when the sun is at its highest point in the sky all year. It makes for a spectacular sunrise!

What do you think of our Stonehenge facts? Leave a comment below and let us know!

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Stonehenge facts for kids | National Geographic Kids

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Learn about one of the world's biggest mysteries with our Stonehenge facts! Here, you'll find out everything about these ancient stones...

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Leaning Tower of Pisa History and Facts - Fun Facts for Kids | Educational Videos by Mocomi

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Enjoy our fun Leaning Tower of Pisa facts for kids. Find a wide range of interesting trivia and information related to one of the most iconic structures in the world.

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The Pyramids of Egypt and the Giza Plateau: Ancient Egyptian History for Kids - FreeSchool

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When construction of the CN Tower in Toronto, Canada was complete in 1976 it became the tallest tower in the world as well as the tallest free-standing structure. It held both titles until 2010 when the Canton Tower and Buri Khalifa were completed and it lost the claim of the world's tallest free-standing structure.

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The Eiffel Tower is a famous landmark in Paris, France. It was built between 1887 and 1889 for the Exposition Universelle also known as World's Fair. The Tower was the Exposition's main attraction and cost £35 million to build.

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most famous and well-known monuments in modern history and is the source of many questions among children and adults alike. How tall is the Eiffel Tower is? How much does it weight? Why was it built? Who is it named after? The list of questions goes on. This page has some interesting and little know facts about the Eiffel Tower or alternatively download our comprehensive worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment.

Facts About The Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is located in Paris, France. Specifically, it is on the Left Bank on the Champ de Mars in the heart of Paris.

Over 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower every year.

It was designed and built for the 1889 World's Fair Exposition and was not meant to be permanent. Gustave Eiffel's company built the monument after being granted the commission.

The Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) was to mark the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution.

Over 100 different artists submitted plans to be selected to build the monument. The commission went to Eiffel et Compagnie - owned by acclaimed bridge builder, metals expert and architect Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.

Even though Eiffel often receives the credit, one of his employees came up with the idea. The concept for the Eiffel Tower was designed and fine tuned by Maurice Kochlin. He has Eiffel has previously worked together on the Statue of Liberty.

The Eiffel Tower was the world's tallest man-made structure for 41 years. It was eventually beaten in 1931 when work on the Chrysler Building in New York City was completed.

The tower is 324 metres tall. That includes the antennas at the top. The entire monument weights over 10,000 tonnes - 10,100 tonnes to be precise.

It was the tallest structure in France until 1973. It was beaten by the military transmitter in the town of Saissac and then later by the Millau Viaduct which was completed in 2004 and stands at 343 metres.

There are 1,665 steps to the top of the Eiffel Tower. It is possibly to climb all the way up, but most people take the elevator.

Every year, the lift in the Eiffel Tower travels 103,000 km. That's the equivalent of two and a half times around the entire world.

In 1925, a man named Victor Lustig sold the Eiffel Tower twice. He was a con artist who forged official government documents and sold the tower to a man named Andre Poisson, who was too embarrassed to go to police after he learned the truth. Lustig tried the same scam again a month later - but fled when the buyer alerted the police.

During cold weather the Eiffel Tower can shrink by as much as 6 inches.

It took two years, two months and five days to construct the Eiffel Tower. That is 180 days less than it took to assemble Paris's other great monument - Notre Dame.

During World War 2, Nazi soldiers tried to put a swastika on the tower. They cut the tower's lift cables and closed it to the public. Then they tried to attach a swastika to the top but it was so large it blew away and had to replaced with a smaller one.

Adolf Hitler tried to destroy the Eiffel Tower in 1944. He ordered the military governor of Paris, Dietrich von Choltitz, to demolish the tower and other parts of the city but the general refused.

Repainting the tower uses around 60 tonnes of paint. This is done every seven years and takes 15 to 18 months to paint the entire structure.

The Blackpool Tower in the UK is inspired by the Eiffel Tower. Sir John Bickerstaff, Mayor of Blackpool, was at the 1889 World's Fair and was so impressed, he built a similar tower on the English seafront in Blackpool.

There are 72 names engraved on the side of the tower. These are the names of the engineers, scientists, and mathematicians who contributed to its design and construction.

There are 20,000 light bulbs on the Eiffel Tower. These are lit in the evening to make it sparkle every night.

It was in the Guinness Book of Records for the world's largest advertisement from 1925 to 1934. It was used by the car manufacturer Citroen. The company name was placed on the tower using 250,000 light bulbs.

The first floor of the Eiffel Tower was converted to an ice skating rink in 2004.

There is an Eiffel Tower LEGO set. The model number for the set is 10181 and it contains 3,428 LEGO blocks.

An American woman married the Eiffel Tower. In 2007, as part of a commitment ceremony, an American woman by the name of Erika LaBrie "married" the Eiffel Tower and changed her name to Erika Eiffel. The relationship was the subject of a lot of global publicity in the news.

Pictures of the Eiffel Tower

Eiffel Tower Worksheets

This bundle contains 11 ready-to-use Eiffel Tower Worksheets that are perfect for students who want to learn more about one of the The Eiffel Tower which is one of the most famous and well-known monuments in modern history and is the source of many questions among children and adults alike.

Download includes the following worksheets

Facts

Paris, France

The World's Fair

Inventions from the World's Fairs

Be an Inventor

Building the Eiffel Tower

Make Your Own Monument

The Eiffel Tower by the Numbers

The Eiffel Tower by More Numbers

Landmarks in Paris

Eiffel Tower Timeline

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Eiffel Tower Facts, Worksheets & Monument History For Kids

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