Sightseeing Paris

A beacon in the night sky of Paris

Praised and criticised in equal measure, the Eiffel Tower has always been one of the most widely talked about Parisian monuments. The tower is 318.7 metres high (1052 feet), and weighs 10,100 tons; for a long time it was the highest tower in the world. The tower was built as part of the Great Exhibition of 1889, to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. On May 15 1889, after 21 months of construction, the first visitors scaled its heights. Numerous critics, unhappy that its sole purpose was to promote French engineering, complained that it spoilt the landscape and demanded the tower be dismantled. Intellectuals considered it an insult to art and to French history, and were fearful that a "pile of twisted metal" had disfigured the face of Paris. However, faced with the huge popular success of the tower, the controversies gradually died out.
Initially a huge fairground attraction, over the course of a century the tower became the dominant symbol of Paris. Today six million people a year visit the tower and marvel at the panoramic view of the capital. Gustave Eiffel, its creator, was right when he said that "I should be jealous of the tower, it is more famous than I am". (Of note, the Jules Verne Restaurant on the 2nd floor, for an exceptional meal at the Eiffel Tower.)

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See also: Altitude 95 - Le Jules Verne - Le Comptoir du 7ème - Champ de Mars

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