Eiffel Tower

A wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, built for the 1889 World’s Fair. Including its antennas it is 330 m tall, and it has become the best-known symbol of the city.

The Eiffel Tower stands at the northwest end of the Champ de Mars, near the Seine in the 7th arrondissement. The company of the engineer Gustave Eiffel designed and built it from 1887 to 1889 as the centrepiece of the 1889 World’s Fair, held to mark the centenary of the French Revolution.

When it was completed it was the tallest structure made by humans, a record it kept for 41 years until the Chrysler Building was finished in New York in 1930. With its antennas it now reaches 330 metres. Although some leading artists criticised its design at first, the “Iron Lady” has become a global symbol of France. Visitors can go up to three levels, and the upper platform is the highest public observation deck in the European Union. The tower became part of the World Heritage Site “Paris, Banks of the Seine” in 1991.