Landmark Europe
Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is a tall iron tower in Paris, France. It is made of thousands of metal pieces. You can ride an elevator up high.
The Eiffel Tower in Paris was built in just over two years for the 1889 World's Fair. Its 18,038 iron parts are held together by 2.5 million rivets. It was meant to stand for 20 years; today it is 330 meters tall and millions of people visit every year.
Designed by Gustave Eiffel's company (engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, architect Stephen Sauvestre) for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the puddle-iron tower rose between January 1887 and March 1889. Radio saved it from demolition; antennas have raised it to 330 m (2022).
Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Discover the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower is in Paris, a big city in France.
It is made of iron, a strong metal. It has four big legs that meet at the top. You can go up by elevator and see the whole city. At night, it shines with lights.
The Eiffel Tower stands on the Champ de Mars, a long park beside the Seine River in Paris. It was built for the 1889 World's Fair, which celebrated 100 years since the French Revolution.
The tower is made of iron, in a crisscross pattern called latticework, so you can see the sky right through it. Its four legs stand on a square 125 meters across and curve up to meet at the top. With its antennas, the tower is now 330 meters tall. In 2025, more than 6.75 million people went up it.
The tower stands on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine and is part of UNESCO's "Paris, Banks of the Seine" World Heritage Site (1991), which names it among the monuments of the 19th-century universal exhibitions. It was built for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, marking the centenary of the French Revolution.
The structure is a lattice of puddle iron: four columns of lattice girders, separate at the base and joined at the top, rising from a square base 125 m (410 ft) across. The metal frame weighs 7,300 tons and the whole tower 10,100 tons. A 6 m digital-radio antenna fitted by helicopter on March 15, 2022 brought it to 330 m. Its operating company, SETE, counted more than 6.75 million visitors to its levels in 2025, close to 450,000 more than in 2024.
- Height today
- 330 m, with antennas (since 2022)
- Built
- January 26, 1887 to March 31, 1889
- Iron parts
- 18,038
- Visitors (2025)
- over 6.75 million
A tower for a World's Fair
Long ago, Paris held a giant fair for the whole world.
People wanted something amazing for it. Gustave Eiffel's team planned a very tall iron tower. Some people did not like the idea. But when it was finished, crowds came to see it.
For the 1889 World's Fair, France held a competition for an iron tower 300 meters tall. Out of 107 entries, the winning plan came from the company of Gustave Eiffel, with engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier and architect Stephen Sauvestre.
Not everyone liked it. In 1887, famous writers and artists signed a letter in a newspaper calling it useless and monstrous. But during the fair, two million visitors went to see the tower, and much of the criticism faded. The tower was only meant to stand for 20 years. It was saved because scientists used it for experiments, especially for sending radio signals.
Koechlin and Nouguier, the chief engineers of Eiffel's company, had the idea in June 1884, and Eiffel registered a patent that September for metal pylons able to exceed 300 m. The project won a competition of 107 entries to build an iron tower on the Champ de Mars, 300 m high on a square base 125 m across. Sauvestre reshaped its look; of his ideas, the great arches at the base survive.
On February 14, 1887, Le Temps printed a "Protest against the Tower of Monsieur Eiffel" signed by figures such as Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod and Charles Garnier. The tower nevertheless drew two million visitors during the 1889 fair. Planned to last 20 years, it was saved by the experiments Eiffel encouraged: radio signals with the Pantheon in 1898, a military radio post in 1903, the first public radio program in 1925 and, later, television.
How it was built
The tower was built like a giant puzzle.
Workers made the iron pieces in a factory. Then they joined them together in Paris. Teams of four workers fixed each hot metal pin, called a rivet. Cranes climbed up the tower as it grew.
Building began on January 26, 1887 and the tower was finished on March 31, 1889: just 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. Every one of its iron pieces was drawn and measured in Eiffel's factory just outside Paris, then joined into sections about 5 meters long.
On site, between 150 and 300 workers put the tower together. They held the pieces with hot rivets, which shrank as they cooled and pulled tight. Each rivet took a team of four: one heated it, one held it, one shaped its head and one hammered it. Small steam cranes climbed the tower as it rose.
Construction ran from January 26, 1887 to March 31, 1889. The foundations took five months: concrete blocks a few meters below ground on compacted gravel, one under each corner, pressing on it at 3 to 4 kg per square centimeter. On the Seine side, builders worked below water level inside watertight metal caissons filled with compressed air. Metal assembly took 21 months.
Each of some 18,000 pieces was drawn to a tenth of a millimeter at Eiffel's works in Levallois-Perret and preassembled into sections about 5 m long. A team of builders who had worked on great metal viaducts led 150 to 300 workers on site. Pieces were bolted first, then the bolts were replaced by heated rivets, each needing four men; only a third of the 2,500,000 rivets were set on site. Twelve wooden scaffolds 30 m high and four of 40 m supported the first level, and steam cranes climbed the tower on the future elevator tracks.
Legs, floors and elevators
The tower has three floors where visitors can stand.
The top floor is very high up. Elevators carry people from floor to floor. Big arches join the four legs at the bottom.
The tower has three levels for visitors. The first floor is about 57 meters up, the second about 115 meters, and the top floor about 276 meters, high above Paris. Antennas on the very top carry radio and TV signals.
The curve of the four legs was worked out by Eiffel's engineers to stand up well to the wind. Big arches join the legs at the bottom. Elevators have carried visitors since June 1889, and two of the old elevators are still working. To stop the iron from rusting, the whole tower is repainted about every 7 years.
Visitor floors stand at 187 ft (about 57 m), 377 ft (about 115 m) and 906 ft (about 276 m). Eiffel argued that the calculated curve of the four edges carried the wind's force down the uprights and that the open lattice reduced the surface exposed to wind. The arches linking the legs survive from Sauvestre's decorative scheme.
Five hydraulic elevators began running in June 1889. Hydraulic Fives-Lille elevators followed in 1899 and have been modernized since 1986; the official site says two of the original elevators are still in service. Because puddle iron oxidizes, paint protects the structure: the tower has been repainted 20 times in 136 years, about once every seven years, by around 50 specialist painters. The 20th campaign, begun in 2019, returned it to the yellow-brown Eiffel chose in 1907.
- First floor
- 187 ft (about 57 m) up
- Second floor
- 377 ft (about 115 m) up
- Top floor
- 906 ft (about 276 m) up
- Rivets
- 2,500,000
The tower today
Today, millions of people visit the tower.
They ride up and look out over Paris. Every evening, the tower lights up and sparkles.
The Eiffel Tower is the symbol of Paris, and visitors come from all over the world. In 2025, more than 6.75 million people went up the tower. The most came from France, followed by the United States.
Every evening, the tower is lit up, and a bright beacon shines from the top. The tower also still does a job: its antennas send radio and TV programs across the city.
SETE, the public company that runs the tower and is 99 percent owned by the City of Paris, reported more than 6.75 million visitors to the tower's levels in 2025, close to 450,000 more than in 2024; about 21 percent were from France and about 13 percent from the United States. Some 10 million people also came to the free forecourt beneath it. The official site counts almost 300 million visitors since 1889.
The tower remains a working broadcast mast: the 2022 antenna joined dozens of others that carry television and radio to the Paris region. Since the 1980s it has been regularly renovated and adapted for growing numbers of visitors, including the replacement of the North elevator between 2019 and 2024.
Amazing facts
-
The tower was only meant to stay for 20 years.
The tower was planned to stand for just 20 years. Radio experiments made it so useful that it was kept.
Intended to last 20 years, the tower was saved by the scientific uses Eiffel encouraged, above all radio transmission.
-
It took four workers to fix each rivet.
Each rivet needed a team of four workers: one heated it, one held it, one shaped its head and one hammered it.
Riveting took four men per rivet, and only a third of the 2,500,000 rivets were set on site; the rest went in at the factory.
-
The tower has been painted 20 times.
The tower has been repainted 20 times, about once every seven years, to stop the iron from rusting.
In 136 years the tower has been repainted 20 times; the 20th campaign, begun in 2019, returned it to the yellow-brown Eiffel chose in 1907.
-
The tower grew 6 meters taller in 2022.
In 2022 a helicopter lifted a new 6-meter radio antenna to the top, and the tower grew to 330 meters.
On March 15, 2022, TDF fitted a 6 m DAB+ antenna by helicopter at a height of 324 m, bringing the tower to 330 m.
Words to know
- lattice
- a crisscross pattern of bars with spaces between them
- rivet
- a metal pin, put in hot, that holds two metal pieces tightly together
- girder
- a long, strong metal beam used in buildings and bridges
- World's Fair
- a huge show where countries display new inventions and ideas
- antenna
- a metal rod or dish that sends or receives radio and TV signals
- foundation
- the solid base under a building that holds it up
Discovery challenge
-
Which city is the Eiffel Tower in?
In which city does the Eiffel Tower stand?
Which capital built the tower for its 1889 Exposition Universelle?
- Rome
- Paris
- London
Show the answer
Paris
Paris! The tower is in Paris, in France.
The tower stands on the Champ de Mars in Paris, beside the Seine River.
Paris built it for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, the centenary of the French Revolution.
-
What metal is the tower made of?
What metal is the Eiffel Tower made of?
What material is the tower's lattice made of?
- Gold
- Iron
- Copper
Show the answer
Iron
Iron! It is a strong metal.
The tower is made of iron, joined together with millions of rivets.
It is puddle iron, which must be protected from oxidation by repainting about every seven years.
-
How many workers fixed each rivet?
How many workers did it take to fix one rivet?
How large was each riveting team on the tower?
- One
- Four
- Twenty
Show the answer
Four
Four workers worked together on each rivet.
One heated the rivet, one held it, one shaped its head and one hammered it.
Each rivet took four men: heating, holding, forming the head and striking it with a sledgehammer.
-
What helped save the tower?
The tower was meant to last 20 years. What helped save it?
Which use, above all, saved the tower from being removed after 20 years?
- Radio
- Trains
- Farming
Show the answer
Radio
Radio! The tall tower was great for sending radio signals.
Scientists used the tower for experiments, especially sending radio signals, so it was kept.
Radio, from signals with the Pantheon in 1898 to the first public program in 1925, kept the tower in use.
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- Watch Try it What If? Lab What if buildings had different foundations? A building's whole weight presses down through its foundation onto the ground. A wide foundation spreads that weight out, like snowshoes on snow. In our model, a 200-tonne building on sand is safe on a 40-square-meter footing. Shrink the footing to 8 square meters and it presses five times harder, more than the sand can take, so the building would sink and could crack or tilt.
- Watch What If? Lab What if metal never rusted? Rust forms when iron and steel react with oxygen and water. It slowly eats away bikes, gates and even giant bridges, so people fight it with paint, zinc and special steels. Imagine a world where metal never rusted and follow what might change.
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France
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For parents & teachers
What children will learn
- Locate Paris and explain why the Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair.
- Describe how the tower was made from factory-made iron pieces joined with rivets by teams of workers.
- Name the tower's main parts and explain why it is repainted regularly.
- Discuss how people's opinions of a new building can change over time.
Recommended ages: 3 to 17 · About 15 minutes
Talk about it
- Many artists said the tower was ugly before it was built. Why might people dislike something new, and change their minds later?
- Why do you think the tower has open lattice sides instead of solid walls?
- The tower was saved because it was useful for radio. Can you think of other old buildings that found a new job?
Try at home or in class
- Build a tower from paper straws and tape with four legs that lean in, then test how much weight its top can hold.
- Roll a sheet of paper into a tube and stand a book on it; then try a flat sheet. Talk about how shape makes thin materials strong.
Key vocabulary: lattice, rivet, girder, World's Fair, antenna, foundation
Where these facts come from
- Wikidata , Wikimedia Foundation (CC0 1.0)
- Origins and Construction of the Eiffel Tower , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- The Eiffel Tower facts, height and weight , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- La tour Eiffel grandit encore pour atteindre 330 mètres ! , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- The lifts of the Eiffel Tower , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- Painting the Eiffel Tower , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (official site)
- 6,3 millions de visiteurs à la tour Eiffel en 2023 (press release, January 19, 2024) , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel
- An exceptional year for visitor numbers at the Eiffel Tower (press release, January 7, 2026) , Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel
- Paris, Banks of the Seine , UNESCO World Heritage Centre
- Wikimedia Commons , Wikimedia Foundation (Per file (public domain, CC0, CC BY or CC BY-SA); see each media record)
Checked, not yet human-reviewed. Last updated October 24, 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
Picture credits
- Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons · source
- Photo: Photo: © Giles Laurent / Illumination: © Pierre Bideau, concepteur Lumière, pour l’éclairage de la tour Eiffel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · source · license
- Photo: Benh LIEU SONG, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons · source · license