The Eiffel Tower was built in Paris for the 1889 World’s Fair.
The tower was constructed on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine to mark the centenary of the French Revolution and serve as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle. Engineer Gustave Eiffel’s company designed and built the structure, which opened to visitors on 31 March 1889 and was formally inaugurated on 6 May.
At approximately 300 metres, it became the tallest man-made structure in the world when completed, surpassing the Washington Monument. The tower was initially intended to be temporary and faced strong criticism from some French artists and writers. Its popularity and usefulness as a radio antenna helped preserve it, and it later became one of Paris’s most recognizable landmarks.