Eiffel Tower Facts

The Eiffel Tower has stood in Paris since 1889.

It took two years, two months and five days to build.

The company that built it was owned by a man called Gustave Eiffel.

That’s where the tower gets its name.

Eiffel-Tower

World’s Fair

The Eiffel Tower was built as the main exhibit at the 1889 World’s Fair – a big international exhibition.

The tower was only supposed to stand for 20 years, but because it is also used to transmit radio programs, it was allowed to stay!

Since it was built, over 250 million people have visited the tower and today it is one of the most well-known buildings in the world.

Eiffel Tower Facts for Kids

There is almost always a queue to go up the Eiffel Tower.
When you get to the front of the queue, you’ll still have to climb 1,665 steps to get to the top. Luckily, there are also lifts!
Visitors can walk up the first two levels and take a lift to the third and final level.
From the top, there’s a 360-degree view of Paris. It’s particularly beautiful at night.
The Eiffel Tower is 1,063 feet tall.
It was the tallest structure in the world until the Chrysler Building was built in New York in 1930.
The tower isn’t always the same height, though. During cold weather, the tower shrinks and is six inches shorter!
When it’s windy, the tower sways around two to three inches in the wind.
There are 18,038 metal parts in the tower and 7,300 tons of iron.
There’s so much iron that the tower’s nickname is the Iron Lady!
The tower is repainted every seven years.
This takes 15 months and 60 tons of paint! It also takes 25 painters who paint the tower with paintbrushes. Yes, it’s all done by hand!
The tower hasn’t always been the same color, though. It used to be a red-brown color but today it’s bronze.
72 engineers, scientists and mathematicians worked on the tower. All of their names are engraved on the side.
Each night, 20,000 lightbulbs light up the tower.
Sometimes there are special light shows, too, such as on New Year’s Eve 2000.
If guests get hungry or thirsty while visiting the tower, they can try one of the tower’s restaurants or bars, and enjoy beautiful views of the city as they eat and drink.
When the building of the tower began, not everyone in Paris was happy about it. They didn’t all love the idea of the huge, modern metal structure. Today, however, the tower is the symbol not only of Paris but also of France.
Many painters have painted the Eiffel Tower and it can be seen in many films.
People have written poems and even songs about it. It really is pretty famous!
Gustave Eiffel did not only create the Eiffel Tower. In fact, the Eiffel Tower was the last thing he worked on. Before that he had also designed some parts of the Statue of Liberty in New York. He had also designed a railway station in Hungary and bridges over rivers in France and Portugal.

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Question: How much does the Eiffel Tower weigh?
Answer: It weighs 10,100 tons.

Question: Is the Eiffel Tower the tallest monument in Paris?
Answer: Yes, it is!