Eiffel Tower

Now it is right above you. Look up into the web of girders and consider that the tower went up in just over two years, between January 1887 and March 1889, as the star attraction of the World's Fair marking the centenary of the Revolution.

1Is it really Eiffel's?

The idea came from two engineers at Gustave Eiffel's company, Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, and the architect Stephen Sauvestre gave it its final look. Eiffel bought the rights to the project, championed it and built it with his firm. Some 18,000 metal parts were assembled, joined by millions of rivets. At 300 metres, it was the tallest structure in the world for four decades.

2A hated tower

In February 1887 the newspaper ‘Le Temps’ published a protest signed by artists and writers, among them Charles Garnier and Guy de Maupassant, against this ‘useless and monstrous’ tower. On top of that, the permit was for only twenty years. Science saved it: Eiffel offered it for experiments, and its value as a military radio-telegraph antenna convinced the authorities to keep it.

Today it stands about 330 metres tall with its antennas. And it is repainted by hand at regular intervals, using dozens of tonnes of paint.

3What to look out for

• The 72 names of French scientists and engineers in gold letters beneath the first platform.
• The bust of Gustave Eiffel, by Antoine Bourdelle, near the north pillar.
• The arches at the base, which are purely decorative: they do not hold the tower up.