16 Eiffel Tower Facts: History, Science, and Secrets

The Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be a temporary installation for the 1889 Paris Exposition, but it has become an iconic landmark in the French capital against all odds.

For starters, the Iron Lady almost wasn’t built: a coalition of famous artists criticized and protested the monument’s construction. But Gustave Eiffel’s civil engineering firm forged ahead with their winning design, which used a staggering 7,300 tons of iron and 2.5 million rivets to execute. It took two years, two months, and five days to finish. Today, it’s one of the most popular landmarks in the world, receiving nearly 7 million visitors per year.

And while you might think you know the Eiffel Tower, it’s not without its secrets. It has changed color and size throughout the decades and even played a pivotal role in World War I.

Here are our favorite little-known facts about the Eiffel Tower.

The Eiffel Tower almost went by a different name.

When Gustave Eiffel was working on the project in 1885, he initially named the monument the “300-Meter Iron Tower”—quite the mouthful, even if it sounds slightly more melodious in French. In casual conversation, it began to be referred to as “Mr. Eiffel’s Tower,” and “the Eiffel Tower” quickly took over the popular lexicon.

French artists tried to prevent it from being built.

From conception to construction, the Eiffel Tower was the source of deep controversy among Parisians. A few well-known creatives—including architect Charles Garnier, novelist Alexandre Dumas, and playwright Guy de Maupassant—banded together in 1887 to write a letter to decry the tower as “a gigantic black factory chimney.”

While some of these artists later retracted their disparagements, others doubled down after the monument’s completion—such as Maupassant, who famously dined at the Eiffel Tower’s restaurant almost daily in order to avoid having to look at it.

Gustave Eiffel didn’t actually design it.

Despite the Tower being his namesake, Eiffel didn’t design it himself. Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, two engineers who worked for his company, were the masterminds behind the structure. At first, Eiffel vetoed their initial sketch, finding it too utilitarian. He then brought on architect Stephen Sauvestre to improve the overall aesthetics of the project. In the end, the team’s ideas beat over 100 other projects, and it was selected as the main attraction of the 1889 World’s Fair. But while he wasn’t the technical designer of the tower, Eiffel was its biggest champion and protector.

It’s covered in the names of scientists.

Eiffel and his engineers aren’t the only ones whose names are inextricably linked to the tower—72 French scientists and engineers’ names are engraved into the iron that surrounds the Tower’s first floor, including physicist Léon Foucault, chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas, and geographer and mathematician François Perrier. While the names were painted over in the early 20th century, they were restored in the 1980s.

It has also doubled as a scientific laboratory.

Part of what secured the tower’s design (and later saved it from destruction) was Eiffel’s insistence that it shouldn’t be purely for looks—it should have a scientific function as well. The day after its inauguration, Eiffel installed a meteorology lab on the third floor, where he performed physics and aerodynamics experiments. He also invited other scientists to use the lab for their studies. Ultimately, his approach helped secure the tower a longer lease on life.

A radio antenna saved the Eiffel Tower from being torn down.

From the beginning, the Eiffel Tower was only supposed to remain up 20 years after the 1889 World’s Fair—it was supposed to be torn down afterward. Eiffel was very aware of this and cleverly ensured the Tower’s existence by enhancing it with a radio antenna and a wireless telegraph transmitter. The Tower began transmitting radio signals locally at the turn of the 20th century, acting as a military radio post in 1903 and later helping France to defend itself from enemy attacks during the First World War. The radio’s usefulness secured the tower a 70-year extension on its lease—and by the time it was up in 1980, the monument’s iconic silhouette had become an irrevocable part of Paris’ skyline.

The Eiffel Tower once housed a post office and a theater. 

Over the decades, the Iron Lady has been home to a rotating cast of businesses, some of which lasted as little as six months. Some businesses that have set up shop in the tower include the French newspaper Le Figaro; a post office; a radio station; and a wooden theater designed by Sauvestre. Today, the tower is home to restaurants, souvenir shops, and a Champagne bar. 

The Eiffel Tower’s light show dates back 100 years. 

Perhaps the most dazzling time of day to visit the Eiffel Tower is in the evenings when 20,000 bulbs illuminate the structure in a sparkling display. It’s been a century since the Tower’s first light show, which took place during the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in 1925. For the occasion, automaker Andre Citröen financed an epic nighttime display of Zodiac symbols, comets, and his car brand’s name. Today, all 20,000 lights sparkle for the first five minutes of every hour beginning after dusk, with a grand finale at midnight or 1 a.m., depending on the time of year. 

While you’re free to snap as many personal photos as you’d like of the Eiffel Tower during the day and at night, the light show is protected by copyright under French law—professionals will need to request permission to use photos or videos of the display.

It was almost destroyed during World War II.

Towards the end of World War II, as the Nazi hold on occupied Paris was slipping and Allied troops were closing in, Adolf Hitler commanded his generals to level the city and destroy its most famous monuments with explosives—including the Eiffel Tower. Thankfully, Allied troops arrived before the orders were able to be carried out, and the tower was spared from extensive damage. On the top floor, you can find a plaque commemorating the liberation of Paris.

The Eiffel Tower changes size with the seasons.

Paris has its own leaning tower of sorts—the Iron Lady, while sturdy and wind-resistant, sways during storms and tilts a few inches away from the sun on hot days. In the summer, the sun’s heat causes the iron to expand, adding a few millimeters to the tower’s overall height, while the metal shrinks infinitesimally in winter.

Gustave Eiffel had a penthouse apartment at the Eiffel Tower.

As far as work perks go, securing your own pied à terre in the Eiffel Tower is hard to beat. Eiffel’s cozy abode was a private residence on the tower’s top floor that he used as a laboratory and to host luminaries, including Thomas Edison. Today, the space is open to the public, and you can pose with wax figures of Eiffel, his daughter, and Edison in the paisley-clad room.

There’s a Champagne bar at the top.

Is there anything more romantic than sipping Champagne while overlooking the City of Light? The Champagne Bar, located on the very top floor of the Eiffel Tower, is a perfect place to soak in the unobstructed views of the city below with a celebratory glass of bubbly in hand—a tipple particularly well-earned for those who opt to climb the tower’s dizzying steps.

It was “sold” for scraps in 1925—by a con artist.

In the wake of Eiffel’s death in 1923, the monument’s fate seemed uncertain. Inspired by rumors of declining attendance and the steep cost of upkeep, infamous con artist Victor Lustig hatched a plan to impersonate a Parisian civil servant, sending seemingly official letters to scrap metal companies stating that the City of Paris was selling it for scraps.

One unlucky man fell for the scam, but Lustig had already run off to Austria with the money. Ironically, he returned years later in an attempt to sell the tower once again. Lustig was eventually imprisoned in the United States at Alcatraz in 1935 and died there in 1947.

The Eiffel Tower was once the tallest building in the world.

For four decades after its construction, the Iron Lady held the distinction of being the tallest building in the world, rising a dramatic 1,024 feet over Paris. In 1930, New York’s budding skyline cinched the record, first with the Chrysler Building (at 1,046 feet tall), followed by the Empire State Building’s 1931 debut, which clocked in at 1,250 feet tall.

It’s changed color over the years.

The tower gets a fresh paint job every seven years to protect against oxidation. It was initially covered with a shade of reddish brown and then spent its adolescent years—from 1892 to 1906—under a bright ochre hue. The current “Eiffel Tower Brown” was adopted in 1968 and was selected for its ability to blend in with the surrounding cityscape. And, in fact, it’s actually three shades of brown: the darkest color is at the bottom, while the lightest is at the top.

The Eiffel Tower is ecofriendly.

The iconic landmark is more than just a pretty face—it’s also a beacon of renewable energy. In 2015, two vertical-axis wind turbines were installed on the tower’s second floor, suspended 400 feet above the ground in order to capture wind. These turbines, which are practically silent and were painted to blend in seamlessly with the tower, power the souvenir shop, restaurant, and other businesses on the tower’s first floor.