On this day in 1889, Gustave Eiffel presided over the dedication ceremony for the Eiffel Tower. The French Prime Minister Pierre Tirard and 200 construction workers attended.
Out of more than 100 submitted designs, Eiffel, a noted bridge builder, won the competition for a monument to be built on the Champ-de-Mars in central Paris. The tower is 984 feet tall and at the time was the world’s tallest man-made structure. The completion of New York’s Chrysler Building in 1930 surpassed the tower in a man-made structure’s height.
When the Paris international Exposition opened, the tower served as the entrance gateway to the giant fair. It was almost demolished in 1909, but its value as an antenna for radio transmission saved it.
Every seven years the tower is painted with 60 tons of paint. It started in a reddish-brown color, ten years later, it was painted yellow, then yellow-brown and chestnut brown. Between 1925 and 1936, a quarter-million colored bulbs illuminated to spell the 100-foot vertical letters of the automobile company Citroen. It was visible from nearly 20 miles away.
Eiffel engraved the names of 72 of the country’s scientists in the first-level gallery. In 1909 Eiffel installed an aerodynamic wind tunnel at the base of the tower for thousands of tests including those on Wright Brothers airplanes and Porsche automobiles.
I’ve been to Paris three times and the Eiffel tower always impresses me.
Information is from the following links you can click here and click here.
Julaina Kleist-Corwin
Editor of Written Across the Genres
Author of Hada’s Fog
Stuff I never knew. Thanks.
Yes, I thought it was interesting too.
Your post reminded me of a most memorable 50th wedding anniversary in the Jules Verne restaurant in the Eiffel Tower. We booked in time to watch the sun go down and the twinkling lights go up. http://www.lejulesverne-paris.com/en
Welcome to my blog, Eloise. Great place for a wedding anniversary. I love Paris. I’ve been there three times and although I don’t care to travel much, I’d go there again.