norman lebrecht<\/p>\n
March 31, 2026<\/p>\n
The tower that nobody wanted, that was vilified and scorned by its neighbours, but that was built anyway, opened on 31st\u00a0 March 1889, 136 years ago today. The Eiffel Tower was constructed as the centrepiece of the 1889 World\u2019s Fair, and to crown the centennial anniversary of the French Revolution. It was designed by Maurice Koechlin and \u00c9mile Nouguier, two senior engineers working for Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889.<\/p>\n
The design choice was a very French affair. After the technical drawings of the tower had been already exhibited, there was an \u201copen competition\u201d for a tower for the World\u2019s Fair with parameters so specific that only Eiffel\u2019s design could meet them. Nobody else, it seemed, had suggested \u201ca 300 m (980 ft) four-sided metal tower on the Champ de Mars\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0 A foregone conclusion if ever there was one.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Here is a PBS documentary which tells the story of the tower nobody wanted.<\/p>\n