The INSIDER Summary:
- The Eiffel Tower was completed on March 31, 1889.
- This year, the iconic structure turns 128 years old.
- Most people don't know that many Parisians initially hated the Eiffel Tower, that its light show requires 20,000 LED lights, or that Gustave Eiffel had a secret apartment on the third floor.
It's impossible to think of Paris without picturing the Eiffel Tower.
The world-famous attraction turns 128 years old on March 31, marking the date it was completed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World’s Fair) to honor the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.
The tower continues to make an impression today, drawing nearly seven million visitors from all over the world each year.
In honor of the Eiffel Tower's upcoming birthday, here are some fascinating facts about the iconic iron structure.
The Eiffel Tower wasn’t the brainchild of Gustave Eiffel.
The structure may be named after Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually his senior engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who designed the building. Eiffel wasn't overly interested in the project, but sent the engineers to the head of his company’s architectural department, Stephen Sauvestre. With Sauvestre's edits, Eiffel got behind the final plans and bought the rights to the patent.
It's made of 18,038 pieces of wrought iron.
The pieces of iron are connected by 2.5 million rivets. They were put in place by between 150 and 300 workers who were employed to build the structure.
It was completed in record time.
Digging work on the site of the Eiffel Tower began on January 28, 1887. Over a year later, on April 11, 1888, the tower's first floor was completed, followed by the second floor on August 14, 1888. The final stage was completed on March 31, 1889 — just two years, two months, and five days after construction began.
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