norman lebrecht
March 31, 2026
The tower that nobody wanted, that was vilified and scorned by its neighbours, but that was built anyway, opened on 31st March 1889, 136 years ago today. The Eiffel Tower was constructed as the centrepiece of the 1889 World’s Fair, and to crown the centennial anniversary of the French Revolution. It was designed by Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, two senior engineers working for Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.
The design choice was a very French affair. After the technical drawings of the tower had been already exhibited, there was an “open competition” for a tower for the World’s Fair with parameters so specific that only Eiffel’s design could meet them. Nobody else, it seemed, had suggested “a 300 m (980 ft) four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars”. A foregone conclusion if ever there was one.
A global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognisable structures in the world, the Eiffel Tower is designated a monument historique and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Eiffel Tower received 5,889,000 visitors in 2022 and is the most visited monument in the world.
Here is a PBS documentary which tells the story of the tower nobody wanted.