is one of the main features of the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, together with

the Old Courthouse and the Museum of Westward Expansion.

The memorial area was founded in 1935 in honor of the third US President Thomas Jefferson

and the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase was a deal Jefferson made between

the United States and France, were France sold much of today's central US to the newly

formed country, which effectively more than doubled the size of the United States.

While the memorial area has been around since 1935, the planning of the arch didn't begin

until after the Second World War. In 1947, a nationwide architectural competition for

the design of a new monument was held which was won by the Finnish-American architect

Eero Saarinen. His winning entry was what you can see in front of you, the massive Gateway

Arch. The construction of the arch itself began

later in 1963; it stood finished in 1965 and was opened to the public two years later.

During construction, both two legs were built up simultaneously. The base of each leg at

ground level had an engineering tolerance of one sixty-fourth of an inch, or else the

two legs would not meet at the top, so there was a need of great engineering precision

to make it work. The construction team faced another problem when the time came to connect

both legs together at the top. The sunlight hitting the south leg caused the metals to

expand slightly, which prevented it from aligning precisely with the north leg. In order to

solve this problem, the St. Louis Fire Department was called in and sprayed the south leg with

water, in which the metal cooled off and the two legs could be united.

The arch is made of stainless steel skin covering two carbon steel walls and it stands an impressive

192 meters tall and 192 meters wide. While the outside of the arch is certainly impressive,

one shouldn't forget its inside. The interior of the arch is hollow and contains

a highly unique transport system which leads to an observation deck at the top. If you

look carefully at the top of the arch, you can see the observation deck's small windows.

The transport system functions as a combination between an elevator and a tram, with a 40-passenger

train made up of eight five-passenger capsules in each leg. Each capsule rotates 155 degrees

during the trip to the top of the arch. When the capsule starts out from the lower zone

the tracks are overhead but as it goes up the arch the tracks then go beneath the capsule.

There is also a conventional elevator reaching halfway up and 1076 stepped stairways for

emergency use only. A trip to the top and back takes around 10 minutes and I can highly

recommend it, unless you are claustrophobic or very scared of heights of course. The view

from the top is great. On a clear day, one can see up to 48 kilometers, from the City

of St. Louis to the west across the Mississippi river and southern Illinois with its Native

American culture mounds to the east. The entrance to the arch is from the underground

visitor center, located directly underneath it. From the visitor center you can move to

either base of the arch and enter the tramway through its narrow double doors. Under the

arch you will also find the Museum of Westward Expansion. The museum documents man's irrepressible

urge to explore and the expansion of the United States. Make sure you don't miss this wonderful

museum. Throughout the years, the arch has been the

place of several notable stunts and events. More than 10 light aircrafts have successfully

flow under the arch and people have been trying to scale and land with parachute on top of

it, more or less successfully. Today, the Gateway Arch has become the iconic

image of St. Louis and a gateway between western and eastern US. It is also one of the very

tallest monuments in the whole US with its mighty 192m. Majestic in its concept, magnificent

with its surroundings and unique in its execution, the Gateway Arch is something for history

books.