Eiffel Tower Paris: History, Facts & Architecture

History Of Eiffel Tower

The Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited monuments, where people from all over the world can be found. It is the most iconic and easily recognizable building in the world. The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris in 1889 to mark the entrance to the World's Fair of that year.

The monument is named after Gustave Eiffel, the chief engineer whose company built it. Construction of the Eiffel Tower began on January 26, 1887, and by March 31, 1889, the tower stood in a record time of 2 years, two months and five days.

The end of the tower construction was criticized by famous pioneers and names from the world of art and literature. Nevertheless, the tower managed to prevail and achieve the success it deserves to enter the Eiffel Tower history.

Many pamphlets and articles were published at various times in 1886 to protest the construction of the tower, and they were directed at the director of construction of the World's Fair, Monsieur Alphand. However, once the tower stood as a landmark of Paris, the criticism stopped, and the tower was visited by more than two million people during the 1889 World's Fair.

Interesting Historical Facts About Eiffel Tower

Paris is a beautiful city that is internationally popular and renowned for its contribution to various fields like fashion, beauty, architecture, and the field of arts, along with culinary. The presence of the Eiffel tower history and its construction makes the city of Paris more beautiful. There are various interesting facts about the Eiffel Tower which you would love to know.

Hitler Ordered the Tower to Be Destroyed

When Adolf Hitler visited Paris before world war II, he wished to climb the Eiffel Tower and take a picture from the top of the Tower. However, at that time, the garagemen destroyed the elevator, which prevented Hitler from climbing the Tower. Therefore, he took a photo in front of the Tower. Later during World War II, when Germany occupied France, Adolf Hitler ordered the destruction of the Eiffel Tower. But, no one listened to his words and the Tower's elevator cables were cut by the French fighters, forcing the Nazis to climb the stairs of the Tower to plant their flag.

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Over 1,700 Steps (Elevators Travel 64,000 Miles Per Year)

The height of the Tower seems intimidating from the ground level, but when you see the Tower from one of its three observatory decks, you will observe a completely different look of the Tower. Eiffel Tower height is 200, 400, and 900 feet for each floor which are connected by stairs and elevators. What’s interesting is that you cannot use any of the Eiffel Tower Lift to get from bottom to the top. Instead, you can only use the elevator to get to the first and the second floor from the ground.

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Secret Apartment On The Third Floor

During the construction of the tower, Gustave Eiffel built a small secret apartment on the third floor of the tower. The apartment is fully furnished, including a wing and some laboratory rooms, which he used to conduct various experiments for his interest. A lot of people were very interested in spending a single night in the Eiffel Tower and they approached Gustave for the same. However, the Eiffel Tower history says that he refused all these offers in order to use his room as a quiet place to spend time for himself and host some of his guests, including Thomas Edison, the man behind the invention of the phonograph.

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It Was the World's Tallest Man-Made Structure for Over 40 Years

The Eiffel Tower height is 984 feet or 300 meters and it remained the World's tallest man-made structure on Earth for around forty years from its construction in 1889 until 1930, when the Empire State Building stood up on a height of around 1,250 feet, or 381 meters.

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The Current Design Was Not the Original Concept

The current Eiffel Tower Architecture of the tower was not Gustave’s first design. One of the senior engineers of his company, Maurice Koechlin, was the principal with the guidance of Emile Nouguier, a fellow engineer, and Stephen Sauvestre. Koechlin was the leader of the company's architectural department. The initial sketches that were shown to Eiffel got rejected as his vision for the Tower was an elaborate and detailed structure. Later in 1884, he approved the design, and the construction started in 1887.

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It Was Only Meant to Stand For 20 Years

The Eiffel Tower history suggests that the building allowed the French to showcase their industrial powers while celebrating the centennial of the French Revolution, which was started in 1789 at the World Fair in the year of 1889. The authorities expected the monument to stand for only 20 years before it was torn down.

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