One of the most romantic cities in the world which never seizes to bewitch tourists with the charming atmosphere of love is Paris. It must be the combination of the typical French culture and nonchalance, the wonderful architectonical setting of the city, its parks and historical treasures…Paris is simply a jewel among cities. The first thing everyone immediately associates with this city is of course its famous landmark, the Eiffel Tower.
It is the tallest structure of the city, built on the Champ de Mars next to the Seine River. It is not only a symbol of Paris, but of the whole country of France. Many do not know that the Eiffel Tower was originally not even intended to be built in France. The architect, Gustave Eiffel, initially designed this architectonical masterpiece for the Universal Exposition in Barcelona in 1888. He simply wanted to have it built on that occasion on the spot. However, as the concept itself was more than challenging and controversial at its time, it took another year for the plan to actually come into being – on a different location.
The tower was built in 1889 in Paris, where the Universal Exhibition was held that year. It was also meant to commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the French Revolution. The first public reactions were horrible. Newspapers presented a very unfavorable picture of the tower, dubbing it ‘a giant ungainly skeleton’, ‘a half-built factory pipe’, and even ‘a carcass’. Gradually, however, the tower became more than famous and by today, more that 200,000,000 visitors have ‘conquered’ the symbol of France.
The tower is 324 m high (its antenna) and for a long time represented the world’s tallest structure. In 1930, when New York’s Chrysler building was completed, the Eiffel Tower lost its supremacy, however retained its admirable reputation.