Did you know? 136 years ago, started the construction of the Eiffel Tower

Published by Margot de Sortiraparis · Photos by My de Sortiraparis · Published on January 30th, 2023 at 10:54 a.m.
If we were to choose one symbol to represent Paris, we would undoubtedly choose the Eiffel Tower, far before the baguette, beret or the Sacred Heart. And yet, not a lot of people have heard about its history. Shall we dive in?

First of all, the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World Fair, that marked the hundredth anniversary of the French Revolution, but this is not a secret. This edition of the World Fair, held in France, then took place on the Champ de Mars and you can still see some remnants of it, such as the Swiss Village in the 15th arrondissement! The Eiffel Tower was to showcase the country’s industrial innovations and progress and for your information, when it was being built, it was the highest point in Paris.

So, to create this iron colossus that was highly criticized, it took dozens of engineers, thousands of metallic pieces and over 7,000 tons of iron! Furthermore, the construction debuted exactly 136 years ago, on January 26, 1887.

Then, the Tower rose to the speed of light: the first floor was first complete in April 1888, and a few months later only, the second floor, in august. As for the top, it was done by March 1889, a record-breaking time – in a bit over two years and two months only – making of this new Eiffel Tower a technical exploit. The monument first opened for the World Fair and has kept fascinating Parisians and tourists ever since!

Practical information

Location

5, avenue Anatole-France
75007 Paris 7

Accessibility info

Access
Metro and RER: Line 6 or 9 "Trocadéro" station Line 6 "Bir-Hakeim" station RER C "Champ de Mars - Tour Eiffel" station

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