Eiffel Tower tops list of Europe’s most expensive monuments
The Eiffel Tower has been named as the most valuable monument in the world in a new survey.
The Eiffel Tower has been declared the most valuable monument in Europe - worth 435 billion euros to the French economy, a new study claims.
ThevenerableParis landmark was estimated to be worth six times its nearest rival, the Colloseum in Rome, valued at 91 billion euros.
Britain’s most valuable monument was declared the Tower of London, worth 70.5 billion euros, with Stonehenge in seventh place, on 10.5 billion euros.
The study by Italy's Monza and Brianza Chamber of Commerce based its findings on a monument's “image, brand and visibility”, calculated bycross-referencing10 differentparametersfrom various analysts and statistics bodies.
Criteria included a “tourist index”, which took into account “the economic value of the location, the fame of the monument, the flux of visitors to the territory and monument” and an “economic attractiveness index”, comprising factors such as the number of jobs it created and its export value.
The huge value of the “Iron Lady” – as the 1,050ft talledificeis affectionately known, amounts to almost a fifth of France's entire annual gross domestic product, Le Figaro pointed out.
The material and property value of any structure was not taken into account.
Other famous European landmarks on the list included the Duomo cathedral in Milan worth ￡65 billion, Madrid's Prado Museum worth ￡46 billion.
The French were delighted. "Cock a doodle doo!," crowed Libération.
The Italian media was horrified by the news that the Paris landmark was said to be worth twice as much as the annual wealth generated by the entire city of Milan.
Il giornale website asked: “Is the Eiffel Tower really worth that much? And above all, are we sure it’s worth more than the Colusseum and Duomo combined?
“If the answer is no, the logical conclusion is that in Italy we don’t know how to make as much as we should out of the vast artistic and cultural heritage we possess.”
The country's Panorama news magazine was equallyhand-wringing: “Is this is a surprising, outrageous and incredible assessment? Not really. It forces us to face the harsh reality of a country that has lost its memory.”
Built in 1889, the Eiffel Tower is Europe's most visited monument, attracting almost eight million tourists a year.
The full list:
1. Eiffel Tower, Paris: 343 billion pounds
2. The Colloseum, Rome: 72 billion pounds
3. The Sagrade Familia Cathedral, Barcelona: 71 billion pounds
4. The Duomo Cathedral, Milan: 65 billion pounds
5. The Tower of London: 56 billion pounds
6. The Prado Museum, Madrid: 46 billion pounds
7. Stonehenge, UK: 8.3 billion pounds
根据一项新研究，埃菲尔铁塔被封为欧洲最贵的地标，对法国经济而言，埃菲尔铁塔价值4350亿欧元。
这一珍贵的巴黎地标的估价是位居第二的古罗马斗兽场的六倍，古罗马斗兽场的价值为910亿欧元。
英国最具价值的地标是伦敦塔，价值705亿欧元。英国的巨石阵排在第七位，价值105亿欧元。
意大利蒙扎与布里安扎商会开展的这一研究是根据各个地标的“形象、品牌和可见度”，而且交叉引用了来自多名分析师和多家统计机构的10个不同参数后算出这一结果的。
考评标准包括“旅游指数”，考虑的因素有“该地标所在位置的经济价值、地标的名气、到地标和地标所在地游览的客流量”，以及“经济吸引力指数”，包括该地标制造的就业机会和增加的出口总额。
高达1050英尺的埃菲尔铁塔被人们亲切地称为“铁娘子”。《费加罗报》指出，埃菲尔铁塔的巨大价值相当于法国全年国内生产总值的五分之一。
该研究没有将任何地标的材料和地产价值考虑在内。
其他上榜的著名欧洲地标包括价值650亿英镑的米兰多摩大教堂和价值460亿英镑的马德里普拉多博物馆。
法国人看到这一研究结果很开心。法国《解放报》欢呼道：“喔喔喔！”
意大利媒体则感到恐慌，因为报道称巴黎这一地标的价值是米兰全城年收入的两倍。
Il giornale网站发出了疑问：“埃菲尔铁塔真的值那么多钱吗？尤其是，我们可以确定埃菲尔铁塔的价值比斗兽场和多摩大教堂加起来还要大吗？
“如果答案是否定的，那么符合逻辑的结论是，我们意大利人不知道如何充分利用我们所拥有的庞大艺术和文化遗产。”
意大利的《全景资讯杂志》也同样表达了绝望：“这是一个令人震惊、难以置信的评估结果吗？其实不是。它迫使我们去直面一个已经失掉记忆的国家的严酷现实。”
埃菲尔铁塔兴建于1889年，是欧洲游览量最大的地标建筑，每年吸引近800万游客前来参观。
完整榜单：
1. 埃菲尔铁塔，巴黎：3430亿英镑
2. 古罗马斗兽场，罗马：720亿英镑
3. 圣家族大教堂，巴塞罗那：710亿英镑
4. 多摩大教堂，米兰：650亿英镑
5. 伦敦塔：560亿英镑
6. 普拉多博物馆，马德里：460亿英镑
7. 巨石阵，英国：83亿英镑
Vocabulary:
venerable:神圣的，珍贵的
cross-reference:交叉引用
parameter:参（变）数，参（变）量
edifice:大厦；雄伟的建筑物
cock a doodle doo: 公鸡啼声
hand-wringing:绝望的
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