Built as the entrance arch to the 1889 Exposition Universelle, marking a revolution's centenary (1889)
Raised in a little over two years, from January 1887 to March 1889
Geography · Landmarks & wonders
The Eiffel Tower
built 1887–1889
France — Paris, the Champ de Mars
The wrought-iron lattice tower raised on the Champ de Mars as the entrance arch to the 1889 Exposition Universelle, marking the centenary of the French Revolution. Designed in Gustave Eiffel's drawing office and denounced by Parisian artists before it was finished, it was the tallest structure in the world for 41 years and is now the most-visited paid monument on earth.
How to spot them
- ▸Quiz clue: 'Champ de Mars', 'Exposition Universelle', '1889', 'Gustave Eiffel', 'wrought iron'
- ▸The first structure ever to pass both 200 m and 300 m in height
- ▸Built as a temporary exhibition entrance, and saved by a radio aerial
- ▸A lattice of puddled iron on four splayed legs, painted in a graded brown
Key facts
Designed in the drawing office by the engineers Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier
The architect Stephen Sauvestre added the decorative arches; the contractor gave the tower its name
The first structure in the world to pass both the 200-metre and 300-metre marks
It held the world height record for 41 years, until New York's Chrysler Building in 1930
Three hundred artists and writers signed a protest against it in Le Temps while it was going up (1887)
Guy de Maupassant was among them; he is said to have lunched in its restaurant to avoid having to look at it
Its builder had a private apartment at the top, where he entertained Thomas Edison
The little flat has been restored, with waxworks of Eiffel, his daughter and Edison
Its 20-year permit was saved by mounting a radio aerial on top
Military wireless, and later a station that jammed German transmissions in the First World War, made it indispensable
Seven thousand three hundred tonnes of puddled iron, 18,038 pieces and about 2.5 million rivets
It is repainted roughly every seven years, in three shades that lighten towards the top
Quick-fire facts
- •It stands 330 m to the tip today; the original structure was about 300 m, the rest is antennas
- •The names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians are engraved around the first level
- •Thermal expansion makes it grow by up to about 15 cm in summer, and lean very slightly away from the sun
- •It was designated a monument historique in 1964 and included in the UNESCO site 'Paris, Banks of the Seine' in 1991
- •It is the tallest structure in Paris and the most-visited paid monument in the world
- •Common misconception: Gustave Eiffel did not himself design it — it was conceived by two of his engineers, and he bought the rights
- •Another misconception: it is wrought (puddled) iron, not steel
Drill it — 8 cards
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Sources
- UNESCO World Heritage Centre — Paris, Banks of the Seine
- Jill Jonnes — Eiffel's Tower