Tour Eiffel, Paris

The Eiffel Tower rises before you as an immense iron lattice structure, assembled for the Paris World’s Fair and now inseparable from the city’s image. Its familiar name honours Gustave Eiffel, whose company carried out the construction from 1887 to 1889. The design came from engineers Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, while architect Stephen Sauvestre gave the proposal its sweeping arches and other visual refinements.

The tower reaches 330 metres, roughly the height of an 81-storey building, and its footprint forms a square measuring 125 metres on each side. Those broad supports narrow dramatically as the ironwork climbs, turning massive engineering into an airy outline. During construction, it overtook the Washington Monument and held the world’s height record for 41 years, until New York’s Chrysler Building was completed in 1930.

Built as the centrepiece of the 1889 exposition and as a monument to the centenary of the French Revolution, it initially faced fierce artistic criticism. Public affection eventually prevailed. Today, visitors can reach three levels, with restaurants on the lower pair and an upper observation platform 276 metres above ground. A private apartment near the summit was created for Gustave Eiffel, who furnished it and welcomed guests including Thomas Edison.