They say that behind every great man is a great woman. Similarly, we can say that behind a great monument or building, there is a large elevator that will allow you to access it. No matter how majestic and great the engineering works, if there is a contraption that facilitates access to people, these remain just that, in pictorial pictures to see at a distance.
Let's review the monuments or buildings of the top 9, the most iconic in the world and the "invisible friend" that lets you see the world from their perspective.
1. The fastest elevator in the world: the Burj Khalifa
This building over 800 meters is the highest in the world (almost double the Empire State) and has nothing more and nothing less than 57 lifts spread its structure, inspired by the geometry of the desert flower. But of those 57 elevators, only one is able to transport passengers to nearly 35 km per hour (10 meters per second) on a trip that lasts almost a minute.
During the course of such a short time, passengers can distract yourself with various entertainment devices that are in the device, such as LCD screens. A true work of modern precision engineering and preventing their crews having to walk up the nearly 3,000 steps that separate the ground floor 160th floor.
It may seem that it has reached the limit, nothing is further from reality: in China are building an elevator that will double the speed of this. The Asian giant built an elevator passengers will rise to the dizzying speed of 76 km / h. You must climb 96 floors in 43 seconds.
2. The lifting of the Empire State Building or how to climb 86 floors in less than a minute
After the disaster of March 11, in the US the Empire State Building in New York he was sadly regain the prominence it had stolen the Twin Towers. That prominence in the years of film in black and white gave him King Kong swinging from the top of the structure.
And the history of the building emblem of the capital of the world is inseparable from the charisma that has adopted its lift over time. In fact, one of the tourist attractions to visit is and will remain the giddy feeling of climbing 80 floors in less than a minute and as the digital numbers change almost imperceptibly figure for the passenger in cabin.
At present the symbolic building has 74 lifts and is giving way to the newly built Freedom Tower at Ground Zero, but, nevertheless, remains a major point of interest in the competition held every year inside and it involves climbing the 86 floors (1,576 steps) that saves the elevator.
3. Will it be by elevators ?! The 107 elevators in the Central Tower of Shangay
Although not the world's tallest building, the Central Tower of Shangay (632 meters of total height) yes it has the glorious title of being the work of human engineering with more elevators in the world. Has nothing more and nothing less than 107 elevators in their guts to get comfortably to its 121 plants spread around the colossus.
4. The spherical elevator Ericsson Globe
The most emblematic elevators in the world need not always be the fastest to scroll through hundreds of floors of the tallest buildings in the world ... Proof of this is the elevator that does not rise up, but its path is defined by touring the a globe sphere.
This is the elevator Globen Arena in Stockholm, the world's largest spherical building, opened in 1989 after two and a half years of construction and whose function is to host sporting events like hockey, handball and basketball. Although, given its characteristics, it has also served to celebrate concerts reputable stars like Lady Gaga, Guns'n'Roses or Green Day.
What is really touristy this lift, called Skyview, is that you can watch for half an hour the Swedish city at 130 meters above sea level and for a small fee of 15 euros. Goes up every ten minutes. It is shaped like a large white ball 110 meters in diameter and 85 meters high.
5. Four elevators to contemplate the city of love from the top
If there is something that really you can associate with the City of Lights is the Eiffel Tower. Erected in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, this symbol devised by engineer Alexandre Gustav Eiffel remains the most famous claim of European cultural capital, which each year attracts millions of tourists from around the world.
As the Empire State Building in New York, this behemoth of iron puddling also hosts the competition firefighters climbing the 1,665 steps that make up the 324 meters.
Of course, the most visited monument in the world has to be accessible to the millions of tourists who visit annually. For this, the set of three lifts distributed by North, East and West pillars can climb the 115 meters from the first and second floor. If you want to reach the top with elevator, you have to change elevator on the second floor.
6. From the Tower of Pisa inaccessible to "tilter" the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas
The Tower of Pisa in Italy was designed in one night and built in periods of amnesty and illegally, hence the irregular slope it has earned its fame ... And that's the reason why its elevators do not work and the tourist has to resign himself to climb on foot.
However, there is a famous hotel in Las Vegas (Nevada), called Luxor, shaped like a pyramid and whose elevators (called "Tilts") trasportan passengers at an angle of 39 degrees. The most curious of all is that these passengers always have the feeling of being upright all the way.
7. The ascent to the highest monument in America
The door to the West (Gateway Arch) was built to symbolically express the westward expansion of the United States and is shaped like a flattened catenary arch and a height of 200 meters. That makes it the tallest monument in the United States built to date and the most characteristic is the system of promotion to the structure, which can be done through a mechanism composed of two trams, one in each leg of the arch.
Each tram conforms a string of eight compartments and five seats, which are shaped ovular, up to 40 people and beat out every 10 minutes. The passenger has the curious sense of balance, like a Ferris wheel they were fair; and once he reached the top, you can visit an observatory 20 meters long and from where you can see the whole city and the extent of the Mississippi River.
8. Up to Mecca
The famous towers of Abraj Al-Bait owe their popularity to two factors. The first, found the midpoint of Mecca pilgrimage site of the billions of Muslims in the world. The second, being the largest architectural work has been built in the world in what they refer to its size and mass.
Its highest tower is called the Mecca Royal Clock Tower Hotel, with a total of 601 meters. It is a lavish hotel destined to give lodging to the pilgrims who come on pilgrimage (more than 70,000 people can be housed in facilities).
To make accessible this structure, the podium has 79 lifts and 111 escalators. Instead, the clock tower has nearly a hundred lifts (94 in total) and only 16 escalators. Take note of more infrastructure: its surrounding towers twelve more elevators and two elevators for heliport six escalators.
Everything a colossus entirely accessible to the pilgrim.
