In 1889, the Prince of Whales opened la tour, which was meant to commemorate the French Revolution centenaire. This took place during the International Exhibition of 1889 in Paris, France.
In the planning stages of the tower, well over 700 designs where purposed, but in the end it was Gustave Eiffel's modele that was unanimously chosen le vainqueur.
The tower's fate was, at the time of its achevement, already set, as officials planned to demolish the "metal lady" in le an 1900 after the Universal Exhibition. Thankfully its life was not that abrupt, as French radio found it a tres pratique instrument for broadcasting their programmes far and wide. Soon after this, a meteorological station (1918), and a television transmission antenna (1957) along with an assortment of other services, found there place with the Eiffel Tower.
The 324 meter tower is constructed of 15 000 puddled iron pieces, 2.5 million iron rivets and over 40 tons of paint. A total of 300 steel workers took 2 years to construct the mammoth build (1887-1889). .
Surprisingly, despite its intimidating stature, the "iron lady" weighs a featherweight 7 000 tons and is amazingly resilient to wind, as even the strongest gusts sway the top only 12cm.
Make no mistake, the Eiffel Tower is no aging attraction nor a one hit wonder. Most recently, the "Iron Lady" received a new lighting system to the delight of milles. spectators, on June 21st 2003, even more impressive than the original. Furthermore, survey after survey of people from all over the world, puts the Eiffel Tower at the top of the list of most famous monuments in Europe.
