The Eiffel Tower was the Paris landmark at the center of the 2000 New Year's Eve countdown, when a digital clock displayed the new millennium.
Paris marked the transition from 1999 to 2000 with special lighting and a large digital display on the Eiffel Tower. The tower, completed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, served as a highly visible symbol for the city's millennium celebrations. Its height and location made it especially suited to large-scale illumination and public viewing.
The Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be temporary, but it remained standing after the exposition and became Paris's most recognizable landmark. It has repeatedly been used for light shows, commemorations, and public celebrations, although its normal nighttime illumination is subject to energy and operating rules.
The year 2000 also generated widespread millennium celebrations around the world. The calendar transition was sometimes described as the start of the twenty-first century, but the numbered century technically began in 2001 because the Gregorian calendar has no year zero.