How did Parisians react to the Eiffel Tower at first?

Parisians originally hated the Eiffel Tower. One apocryphal story says that novelist Guy de Maupassant said he hated the tower, but ate lunch at its restaurant every day. When he was asked why, Maupassant replied that it was the only place in Paris where he couldn't see it.



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8. People in Paris actually hated it at first. When the Eiffel Tower was built, many eminent intellectuals of the day (including famous French author Guy de Maupassant) protested vehemently against it, calling it 'a gigantic black smokestack' that would ruin the beauty of Paris.

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They said it looked like a hideous factory chimney, it was going to be 1,000 feet tall, way taller than anything else in Paris, and it would be there for 20 years. People also feared it might collapse because railroad bridges had collapsed.

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But though Eiffel's tower planned to set records, it wasn't without controversy. The building was radically industrial, and that chafed against the sensibilities of more refined Parisians.

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However, the lights on the Eiffel Tower were installed in 1985, by Pierre Bideau, meaning that any photo or video that shows the monument at a time when the lights are visible (ie, at night) is a violation of copyright law.

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The elevators at the time of construction In June 1889, five hydraulic elevators went into operation. This initial elevator technology was further modernized a decade later by Gustave Eiffel for the Universal Exposition of 1900.

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A temporary installation The Eiffel Tower was built in time for the 1889 World Fair or Exposition Universelle which took place in Paris. It may be hard to believe these days but the tower was originally conceived as a temporary exhibit which would be taken down some time after the fair.

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This apartment, where Eiffel presumably never slept, has since become an area for technical facilities. Now available for the public to tour, it is a recreation of his office which exhibits wax sculptures of Gustave Eiffel, his daughter Claire, and Thomas Edison.

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Financing of the Eiffel Tower: the Franco-Egyptian Bank enters the scene. In 1888, the cost of building the Eiffel Tower was estimated at 6.5 million francs, with public authorities only being able to cover 1.5 million francs of this cost. Eiffel therefore approached banks to raise the additional 5 million francs.

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For visitors looking to eat on the go, delicious buffets offer sweet and savory snacks and drinks on the esplanade and on the first and second floors. This mouth-watering offer is complemented by the Pierre Hermé macaron bar on the second floor and the champagne bar at the top.

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The Eiffel Tower also sells stairs + lift ticket which will allow you to take the stairs until the second floor, then the lift to the top of the Tower. Such tickets are mainly sold at the ticket offices at the Tower at the individual rate and for use immediately.

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The sparkles: every evening after dusk for 5 minutes at the beginning of each hour. As the lights are switched off at 11.45pm, they will sparkle for the last time at 11pm.

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At first a lot of them hated it because it was so different from all other Parisian architecture: raw iron where everything else was stone. But since then it has become so iconic that it's hard to imagine Paris without it, and everybody is used to it.

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In 1923, Pierre Labric cycled down the first level of Eiffel Tower. Pierre Labric was a journalist with the popular Parisian newspaper Petit Parisien. If there's one place that is part of everyone's bucket list, it's the Eiffel Tower in the French capital city, Paris.

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