Why did France give us the Eiffel Tower?

Answer and Explanation: The Eiffel Tower was not a gift from France to America, rather it was built for the 1889 World's Fair held in Paris, France. It was the centerpiece of the exposition and very popular with visitors then and now. What was a gift from France to America, on the other hand, was the Statue of Liberty.



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The Eiffel Tower was built to be one the main attractions at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. That year, the World's Fair covered the entire Champ de Mars in Paris and its focus was the vast constructions in iron and steel that were the great industrial advancement of that time.

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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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High-minded critics in France attacked the Eiffel Tower as it was being built, lobbing the most excruciating insult they could come up with. It was, they sputtered, positively awful, something even those uncouth Americans wouldn't embrace. Sacre bleu, mon dieu, and zut alors!

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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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The first digging work started on the 26th January 1887. On the 31st March 1889, the Tower had been finished in record time – 2 years, 2 months and 5 days – and was established as a veritable technical feat. Le journaliste Émile Goudeau visitant le chantier au début de 1889 en décrit ainsi le spectacle.

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It is made of lattice-shaped wrought iron with 20,000 lights. The Eiffel Tower was built for $1.5M in 1889. If we inflation adjust this original cost using CPI, we get $44M. According to a 2012 study by the Chamber of Commerce of Monza and Brianza in northern Italy, it is worth $510 billion.

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Protests from artists during early construction And after winning the competition, his project was subject to multiple attacks. Firstly, from architects, who were outraged to see an engineer chosen for such a project. Then, the Parisian artistic scene got up in arms when construction began.

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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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As a predominant feature of French culture, it has inspired many artists since it was erected, including poets such as Guillaume Apollinaire, Blaise Cendrars and Jean Cocteau, as well as painters (Chagall, Dufy, Delaunay), performers of songs about the Eiffel Tower (Mistinguett, Charles Trénet, Dutronc, etc.)

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Once completed, the tower became the gateway to the 1889 World's Fair. It attracted nearly 2 million visitors and was the tallest building in the world at the time. For many, it offered the first aerial view of Paris. The top hid Gustave Eiffel's office, in which he welcomed personalities throughout the 6-month event.

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What Are the 11 Most Interesting Facts About the Eiffel Tower?
  • It Was Designed by Gustave Eiffel. ...
  • It Took 22 Months to Complete. ...
  • The Eiffel Tower Is Made of Iron. ...
  • The Eiffel Tower Has Three Floors. ...
  • It's as heavy as an Entire Freight Train. ...
  • The Eiffel Tower Has to be Repainted Every 7 Years.


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