The Ultimate Eiffel Tower Trivia Quiz

The Eiffel Tower is a wrought-iron lattice tower in Paris, named after Gustave Eiffel, the engineer who designed and built it. It was constructed from 1887 to 1889 as the centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair. The tower is 330 meters tall and the tallest structure in Paris. It has three levels for visitors, with restaurants on the first and second levels. The top level's upper platform is 276 m above the ground, the highest observation deck accessible to the public in the European Union. The tower received 5,889,000 visitors in 2022. The Eiffel Tower is a global cultural icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. It was designated a monument historique in 1964, and was named part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1991. The tower was initially criticized by some of France's leading artists and intellectuals for its design, but it has since become a symbol of Paris and France. The tower was constructed using 18,038 pieces joined using 2.5 million rivets. The tower's construction was a subject of controversy and drew criticism from those who did not believe it was feasible and those who objected on artistic grounds. The tower was equipped with lifts to reach the first and second levels, which was a major concern of the government commission overseeing the Exposition.The Eiffel Tower was completed in March 1889 and opened to the public nine days after the opening of the exposition on 6 May. The tower was an instant success with nearly 30,000 visitors making the 1,710-step climb to the top before the lifts entered service on 26 May. The original lifts for the journey between the second and third levels were supplied by Léon Edoux. There were two lifts on the second level, and each lift car travelled only half the distance between the second and third levels and held 65 passengers. Tickets cost 2 francs for the first level, 3 francs for the second, and 5 francs for the top, with half-price admission on Sundays, and by the end of the exhibition there had been 1,896,987 visitors. The tower was to be dismantled in 1909, when its ownership would revert to the City of Paris, but it was allowed to remain after the expiry of the permit and from 1910 it also became part of the International Time Service. In 1967, Montreal Mayor Jean Drapeau negotiated a secret agreement with Charles de Gaulle for the tower to be dismantled and temporarily relocated to Montreal to serve as a landmark and tourist attraction during Expo 67. The original lifts between the second and third levels were replaced after 97 years in service in 1982. The tower has operated at its maximum capacity of about 7 million visitors per year since 2003. The puddle iron (wrought iron) of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes, and the addition of lifts, shops and antennae have brought the total weight to approximately 10,100 tonnes. Eiffel and his team understood the importance of wind forces and used graphical methods to determine the strength of the tower and empirical evidence to account for the effects of wind, rather than a mathematical formula. All parts of the tower were overdesigned to ensure maximum resistance to wind forces.Facts About the Eiffel Tower

• The Eiffel Tower was completed in 1889 for the World’s Fair and was originally intended to be a temporary structure.
• The tower is named after Gustave Eiffel, the engineer who designed it.
• The tower is 324 meters (1,063 feet) tall, making it the tallest freestanding structure in France.
• The tower sways by up to 9 cm (3.5 in) in the wind.
• The tower has two restaurants and a champagne bar at the top.
• The tower has been painted 19 times since it was built, with 60 tons of paint applied every seven years to prevent rusting.
• The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world, with over 300 million visitors since it was completed in 1889.
• The nearest Paris Métro station is Bir-Hakeim and the nearest RER station is Champ de Mars-Tour Eiffel.
• The tower was used for making radio transmissions since the beginning of the 20th century.
• The tower has been the inspiration for the creation of many replicas and similar towers around the world.
• The tower is painted in three shades to complement the Parisian sky.
• The tower and its image have been in the public domain since 1993, 70 years after Eiffel's death.