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—— ON THIS DAY ——
MARCH 31, 1889
Paris, France
136 years ago
The Eiffel Tower under construction, 1888 — built in just over two years, it was the tallest structure in the world at the time of its completion and remained so for 41 years.
On March 31, 1889, the Eiffel Tower opened to the public as the centrepiece of the Paris World's Fair, marking the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution. It was the tallest structure on Earth. It had been built in just over two years. And a significant portion of Paris's most celebrated artists, writers, and intellectuals were united in their conviction that it was an abomination.
The tower was designed to be temporary. It was scheduled for demolition after 20 years. It survived because it made itself useful. Today it is the most visited paid monument in the world.
—— MARQUEE EVENT ——
The 1889 World's Fair, Paris — the Eiffel Tower looms over the Champ de Mars, marking the centennial of the French Revolution with a monument that was supposed to last only 20 years.
Before the tower even opened, 300 prominent French cultural figures — including Guy de Maupassant, Charles Gounod, and Alexandre Dumas fils — signed and published a petition condemning it as a 'useless and monstrous' eyesore and 'a gigantic black smokestack' that would 'dishonor Paris for generations.' The petition was called 'The Protest of the Artists.'
Gustave Eiffel responded publicly to his critics with characteristic cool: 'I believe that the Tower will have its own beauty.' He was right, though it took time. Guy de Maupassant reportedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant regularly — because, he said, it was the only spot in Paris from which he couldn't see it.
The tower survived its 20-year demolition deadline by becoming essential to modern communications. Its antenna was used for early military wireless telegraphy. During World War I, it intercepted critical German military communications — including the messages that enabled the capture and execution of the German spy Mata Hari. The 20-year deadline passed. Demolition was quietly forgotten.
—— WHY THIS MATTERS ——
The Eiffel Tower is the perfect parable of aesthetic innovation: what one generation calls monstrous, the next calls iconic. The critics of 1889 had impeccable taste and terrible foresight.
It was a deliberate statement about industrial modernity — a proof that iron, engineering, and calculated ambition could produce something transcendent, without stone, without classical proportion, without any precedent at all.
Today it generates more than €1 billion in annual economic activity for Paris. The 300 artists who signed that petition in 1887 could not have imagined that their 'monstrous' tower would one day be the most photographed structure on Earth.
—— THE TAKEAWAY ——
On March 31, 1889, a temporary iron structure opened in Paris to widespread artistic horror. One hundred and thirty-six years later, it is the most recognized building on Earth, the symbol of an entire city, and proof that the confident aesthetic judgments of one era have a remarkable tendency to look ridiculous in the next.
—— QUOTE OF THE DAY ——
"I ought to feel jealous of the Tower. She is more famous than I am."
— Gustave Eiffel, attributed
—— OUR QUIZ OF THE DAY ——
How much do you know about the Eiffel Tower — its construction, the controversy it ignited, the role it played in two world wars, and why a building designed to be torn down became the most iconic structure in the world?
Take today’s quiz and test your knowledge of the tower that transformed from a mocked experiment into the defining symbol of a city.
