Eiffel Tower

Without further ado, I present to you, the Eiffel Tower! You probably know this already, but it was created by Gustave Eiffel as the centerpiece of the 1889 Paris Exposition, to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Fun fact: it was meant to be dismantled sometime later. But Gustave Eiffel had thought of everything. You see, he installed all kinds of scientific devices up there and, given the tower’s height, they’d work so well and make it so useful that no one would ever want to take it down! We’re talking radio antennas, barometers, lightning rods, an optical telegraph, etc. And so, it was kept standing for the sake of public interest and the rest is history. Well, there’s actually a lot more to it than you might think! So here are a few odd, historical, and sometimes downright crazy, yet true facts!

– The idea of a metal tower perforated to let in the wind pass through came not from Gustave Eiffel, but from Maurice Koechlin, a Franco-Swiss engineer.

– Even before its completion, the tower was the subject of much criticism from French intellectuals, who referred to it as the “Big, honeycombed giraffe”!

– Among the first official visitors to sign the guest book were the English royal family and Buffalo Bill!

– In 1899, some businessmen wanted to buy it and use it as a lighthouse in Bolivia!

– Today, the Eiffel Tower is valued at a staggering 434 billion euros! The Monza Chamber of Commerce in Italy did the math!

– Measuring 324 meters high, it remains the tallest monument in France and was for a long time the tallest monument in the world. However, its height varies depending on the weather! In fact, the metal structure expands in summer and contracts in winter, causing it to shrink by up to 10 cm!

– Its elevators were a feat of engineering! But when Hitler visited, the engineers cut the cables! Those who wanted to go up simply had to climb the 1,665 steps to the top.

– With around 7 million visitors a year, it’s the most visited tower in the world with an entrance fee.

Yet it still ranks behind Notre-Dame de Paris, the Louvre Museum, and Disneyland Paris in terms of visitor numbers in France.

-It’s been repainted 20 times! And it wasn’t always brown, it’s also been blue and even red! It takes 60 tons of paint for just one coat. Most recently, they repainted it in golden tones for the 2024 Olympics, the exact color Gustave Eiffel had in mind!

-The inventor of the wearable parachute met a tragic death here, while testing his invention by jumping from the first floor of the tower.

-On a happier note, the Jules Vernes restaurant on the 2nd floor sees an average of two marriage proposals a day!

-And speaking of weddings, there’s an American woman named Erika Labrie who’s officially married to the Eiffel Tower. Yep, you heard that right.

-And just so you don’t run into any problems when it comes to French legislation, you should know that the Eiffel Tower’s illumination at nightfall is protected by copyright, so you simply cannot sell a nighttime photo of it.

-Last one! The Paris 2024 Olympic medals are even more special than you might think. All 5,084 of them contain 18 grams of metal from the Eiffel Tower, adding a touch of Parisian magic to the traditional gold, silver, and bronze.

So there you have it. Now that you know everything, you’re gonna rock those dinner parties, that’s for sure!