Is the Eiffel Tower originally planned to be built in a temporary basis?

Of the many surprising facts about the Tower, perhaps the most shocking of all is that it was never meant to be a permanent structure on the Parisian landscape. Instead, it was intended to be a temporary installation that commemorated the 100 year anniversary of the French Revolution at the 1889 World Fair.



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Eiffel won an open competition to design the Eiffel Tower, which was to be the crowning glory during the Paris World Fair of 1889.
  • It Took 22 Months to Complete.
  • The Eiffel Tower Is Made of Iron.
  • The Eiffel Tower Has Three Floors.
  • The Eiffel Tower Has to be Repainted Every 7 Years.


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Scientific experiments were conducted in the fields of astronomy and physiology but what would really save the Tower in the end was its use as a radio antenna tower, first for military communications and then for permanent, radiotelegraphy communications; in fact, the Tower served many a purpose during the First World ...

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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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The Eiffel Tower Laboratory. The Eiffel Tower was supposed to be destroyed only 20 years after its construction. To remedy the situation, Gustave Eiffel had the ingenious idea of crediting it with a scientific purpose – the Tower was saved!

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The Eiffel Tower can only be painted by hand The Eiffel Tower is stripped of its color and repainted every seven years by 50 painters. To date, the tower has been repainted 19 times. On average, at least 60 tons of paint are applied to the whole structure to prevent the iron exteriors from rusting.

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At 986 feet, the Eiffel Tower was nearly double the height of the world's previous tallest structure—the 555-foot Washington Monument—when it opened in 1889. It would not be surpassed until the completion of the 1,046-foot Chrysler Building in New York in 1930.

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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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Eiffel originally pitched his tower to the city of Barcelona, Spain.

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In fact, the Tower has been repainted for over 130 years, about once every 7 years. So if it is repainted, the Eiffel Tower can last... forever.

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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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