Eiffel Tower

Guide Note

The Eiffel Tower was originally built for the 1889 World Fair by Gustave Eiffel. Once seen as an eyesore on the French landscape it is now known as one of the most romantic spots in the world and a symbol of Paris itself.

Fast Facts

1. Constructed from July 1, 1887 - March 15, 1889 (2 years, 2 months and 5 days)
2. Official opening: May 31, 1889
3. Chief designer: Gustave Eiffel & Cie
4. Engineers: Maurice Koechlin & Emile Nouguier
5. Architect: Stephen Sauvestre
6. Age: 119 years
7. Composition: 18,038 pieces, 2,500,000 rivets
8. Total weight: 10,100 tons
9. Height: 324m (with flagpole)
10. Numbers of visitors up to December 31, 2007: 236,445,812
11. Number of steps: 1665
12. Owner: City of Paris
13. World's tallest building from 1889 to 1930, until it was surpassed by the Chrysler Building

In the years preceding its construction, the tower was met with much criticism from the public, the most famous of which was the "artist protest". A protest was published in the newspaper Le Temps by several big names from the world of literature and the arts including: Charles Gounod, Guy de Maupassant, Alexandre Dumas junior, François Coppée, Leconte de Lisle, Sully Prudhomme, William Bouguereau, Ernest Meissonier, Victorien Sardou, Charles Garnie. Once the tower was finished, it received two million visitors during the World's Fair of 1889, and the criticism largely died out.

The tower uses 7,500,000 kilowatt hours annually, 580,000 of which are exclusively for its nightly illuminations. Its elevators travel a distance of more than 103,000 kilometers annually, two and a half times around the earth. 2 tons of paper per year are used to issue the necessary annual number of entrance tickets.