Opened to the public on 31 March 1889 as a temporary structure, the Eiffel Tower has welcomed more than 250 million visitors in the last 129 years. Situated on the Champ de Mars, a large urban park in Paris, France, this wrought iron edifice is a much treasured Parisian landmark and one of the world’s most famous monuments. Standing proudly against the Parisian skyline, this lattice tower was visited by almost seven million visitors in 2015 alone, which makes the Eiffel Tower the most-visited paid monument in the world.

Eiffel Tower, often regarded as one of the mankind’s most inspirational and ultimate engineering feat, is 1,063 feet tall. When its construction was finished in 1889, the Eiffel Tower replaced the Washington Monument, as the tallest man-made structure in the world. For the next four decades, Eiffel Tower held that title, until the opening of the Chrysler Building in New York City in 1930. At the top level of the tower, at 906 feet above ground, there is a viewing platform open to the public, which offers stunning views of Paris.

Eiffel tower, which is made out of wrought iron in a lattice design, weighs about 11,000 tons in total and it takes about 55 tons of paint to coat the tower completely to prevent it from rusting. The tower is painted every 7 years and since its opening in 1889, it has been completely painted at least 19 times.

Why the Eiffel Tower was built?

The tower was initially designed as an exhibit and as a temporary entrance arch to the Exposition Universelle of 1889, an international exhibition held in Paris, France, from 6 May to 31 October 1889, during the year of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, industry was thriving in France and the exposition was seen as an opportunity to express its industrial capacity to the world; the mighty iron tower was the perfect structure to express the industrial expertise of France.

In 1887, the contract to design and construct a centerpiece for the ‘Exposition Universelle of 1889’ was won by the French civil engineer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel. The design proposals for the Eiffel Tower were made by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, both chief engineers at the engineering company owned by Gustave Eiffel and Stephen Sauvestre, the head of the Architecture department at Eiffel’s company.

The construction of the project began on 28 January 1887 and it was finished on 15 March 1889. It took about 2 years and 300 on-site builders to complete the project and the tower is named after Gustave Eiffel.

The tower became an instant attraction for the visitors of the exhibition and by the end of the expo the mighty engineering marvel was enjoyed by 1,896,987 visitors.

Some fun facts about the Eiffel Tower

1. The tower was originally made up of 18,038 different pieces and 2,500,000 rivets were required to join all of them together.
2. Temperature changes in atmosphere can change the height of the Eiffel Tower. In very hot weather, the tower can expand by 6 inches and in cold weather the tower can shrink by 6 inches.
3. The tower was initially built as a temporary construction, which was to be dismantled in 1909, twenty years after the World Exhibition.
4. The elevators in the tower go up and down carrying visitors every year for a combined distance that can be more than the distance of going around the world two times!
5. Gustave Eiffel was also associated with the design of The Statue of Liberty situated on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the United States.
6. In 2014, the British Virgin Islands celebrated the occasion of the 125th anniversary of the completion of the Eiffel tower, by issuing a special set of tower shaped coins.
7. The names of 72 French scientists, engineers and mathematicians, who contributed to the building of the tower are engraved on the Eiffel Tower.