Je t'aime (I love you) Wall

 

Pictured here is Therese, our tour guide for the Paris tour May8-13.

This is Emily in Paris.  Emily is our granddaughter who toured with me on the 3 Temple Tour, May 2022

SPANNING 416 SQUARE FEET, THE I Love You Wall (Le mur des je t’aime) in Paris’s Jehan-Rictus Square was created by two artists as a rendezvous location for lovers and a lasting monument to eternal adoration.

Covered in 612 lava tiles, the wall features the words “I love you” in 311 languages, including all 192 languages of the United Nations.

The artwork was created by Frédéric Baron and Claire Kito, who originally collected the phrase in notebooks by knocking on the doors of embassies and asking their neighbors until they had collected more than 300 languages, all expressing the powerful sentiment of love.

Know Before You Go

The wall is open for viewing Monday through Friday starting at 8:00 AM. Closing times vary based on the season. The closest subway station is Abbesses.

Montmartre

 

Montmartre is a large hill standing 427 feet (130 m) tall. It is one of the most charming, colorful and unique districts in Paris. 

Spectacular view of Paris from Montmartre

Also known as the painter’s neighborhood, its small and steep narrow streets are home to the oldest cabarets and to the Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur. This area is also full of restaurants with terraces and painters selling their work to tourists and locals.

History

Montmartre was an independent commune located just outside Paris until 1860, when it became the eighteenth district of Paris.

At the end of the nineteenth century, the neighborhood was avoided by many Parisians due to the cabarets and brothels that opened in the area. However, many famous artists decided to live in the area during the Belle Époque, transforming it into the unique and surprising district it is today.

Discovering Montmartre

Montmartre can be divided into two completely different areas. The first, near Place Pigalle, is defined by its numerous neon lights of sex-shops and cabarets, including the renowned Moulin Rouge, attracting hundreds of tourists each year.

The second is the more bohemian Montmartre, located in the Place du Tertre at the top of the hill, which is reached after having walked up 197 steps or having taken the funicular. This is one of the most captivating parts of Montmartre and an ideal place to have dinner and a stroll through its streets, observing the artists while they work or sell their art. 

A maze of narrow and steep streets and alleys lead to the Basilica of the Sacre-Coeur, a beautiful temple from where you can see a fantastic view of Paris. Once you've reached the building, you'll see that the steps leading to the Basilica are normally full of tourists and Parisians who spend their morning or afternoon enjoying the landscape.   

https://www.introducingparis.com/montmartre

We also love to stroll through the fabric market at the base of Montmartre:

Take a spin around Isle de la Cite - Bateau Mouche

Explore Paris on a famous Bateau Mouche with a 1 hour and 10 minute ride on the Seine River.  This 15 kilometre trip goes through the heart of the city of Paris and takes you past the Concord Obelisk, the Musee D'Orsay, the Louvre and the capital's 37 bridges.  Marvel at the structure of the Notre Dame Cathedral, a gothic jewel amongst Paris' stunning architecture and the Eiffel Tour, the very symbol of France.  This is a great way to see Paris and to get a feel for how it is laid out. 

The cost of a ticket is 15 euros per person.  You can board the boats at The Bateaux-Mouches embarkation dock located on the Port de la Conférence just at the foot of the Pont de l'Alma on the Right Bank of the Seine, less than 15 minutes on foot from the Eiffel Tower or the Champs-Elysées.

The Queen's Hamlet is tucked away behind the Versailles Palace - a must see

 

Marie-Antoinette's reconfiguration of the Trianon gardens can be divided into two distinct phases.  The first, starting in 1777, corresponds to the creation of the English Gardens.  Subsequently, in 1783, she tasked Richard Mique with extending the gardens to to north and building a whol model village around an artificial lake.  Work began in the summer of 1783 and was completed in 1786.  The Queen's Hamlet does not belong to any particular style, combining as it does various influences from rural architecture, but it does succeed in creating a sense of aesthetic coherency.  The cottages are set on the eastern bank of the lake, arranged in a crescent formation which is ideally viewed from across the water. 

Richard Mique divided the hamlet into three distinct spaces. The first, to the south of the stone bridge which spans the stream, contains the reception facilities: the windmill (whose wheel is purely decorative), the boudoir, the Queen’s House, the billiard room and the stove room. These are cottages whose rustic exteriors concealed interiors which were carefully-decorated and often richly furnished, where the queen could host small parties of guests invited to join her on the Trianon estate. On the other side of the bridge stand the structures actually used for agricultural purposes: the barn, the working dairy, the model dairy, the fisherman’s cottage and the guard house. The tower overlooking the lake was named the ‘Marlborough Tower’, in reference to a popular song of the day. Further down the bank stands the farm, which was a going concern until the onset of the Revolution, complete with stables, pig sty, sheep pen and hen house. Contrary to the deeply-entrenched public image of  Marie-Antoinette, the queen and her entourage did not “play at being farmers” amidst these bucolic surroundings, complete with sheep trussed up in ribbons. The queen actually used the hamlet as a place for relaxing walks, or to host small gatherings. The fact that the hamlet was also a functioning farm, a point upon which the queen insisted, meant that it served an educational role for the royal children. 

During the Revolution, the Hamlet had quite a rough time. Built without much thought for longevity, as was the norm for such follies, the cottages aged badly and were damaged by bad weather.  Napoleon ordered a full restoration between 1810 and 1812, but in doing so had the most dilapidated structures torn down, including the barn and the working dairy. A second campaign of restoration work saved the hamlet from certain ruin in the 1930s, thanks to a donation from John Rockefeller. Part of the hamlet was restored once again in the late 20th century, with some buildings (including the windmill) returned to their original configuration. The farm, which almost totally disappeared over the course of the 19th century, was reconstructed in 2006 and is now home to a variety of animals looked after by the Foundation for Animal Welfare. 

https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/estate-trianon/queen-hamlet#history-of-the-premises

Save time for the Palace of Versailles

Since 1979, the Palace of Versailles has been listed as a World Heritage and is one of the greatest achievements in the French 17th century art.  Louis VIII's old hunting pavilion was transformed and extended by his son, Louis XIV, when he installed the Court and government there in 1682.  A succession of kings continued to embellish the Palace up until the French Revolution.  Today the Palace contains 2,300 rooms spread over 63,154 square meters.

In 1789, the French Revolution forced Louis XVI  to leave Versailles for Paris. The Palace would never again be a royal residence and a new role was assigned to it in the 19th century, when it became the  Museum of the History of France in 1837 by order of  King Louis-Philippe, who came to the throne in 1830. The rooms of the Palace were then devoted to housing new collections of paintings and sculptures representing great figures and important events that had marked the History of France. These collections continued to be expanded until the early 20th century at which time, under the influence of its most eminent curator, Pierre de Nolhac, the Palace rediscovered its historical role when the whole central part was restored to the appearance it had had as a royal residence during the Ancien Régime.

The Palace of Versailles never played the protective role of a medieval stronghold. Beginning in the Renaissance period, the term "chateau" was used to refer to the rural location of a luxurious residence, as opposed to an urban palace. It was thus common to speak of the Louvre "Palais” in the heart of Paris, and the "Château” of Versailles out in the country. Versailles was only a village at the time. It was destroyed in 1673 to make way for the new town Louis XIV wished to create. Currently the centrepiece of Versailles urban planning, the Palace now seems a far cry from the countryside residence it once was. Nevertheless, the garden end on the west side of the Estate of Versailles is still adjoined by woods and agriculture.https://en.chateauversailles.fr/discover/estate/palace

Thanks to the team of Louis le Vau (architect to the aristocracy), André le Nôtre (landscape designer extraordinaire), and Charles le Brun (über-fashionable interior decorator and painter), Louis XIV’s enormous and stylish palace was completed 21 years after it was begun in 1661 allowing Louis (and his closest friends, family, courtiers, servants and soldiers—all 20,000 of them) to officially set up court there (by that point, the next superstar architect, Jules Hardouin Mansart, had taken up the design reins). Enormous is no joke. The place has 700 rooms, 2,153 windows, and takes up 67,000 square meters of floor space (for those of you keeping track at home, that’s over 12 American football fields or a bit more than 9 soccer pitches).

Over and above anything else, Versailles was meant to emphasize Louis’s importance. After all, this is the guy that called himself The Sun King; as in, everything revolves around me. “L’état, c’est moi” (I am the state), he said, famously and oh-so-modestly. By building Versailles, Louis shifted the seat of French government away from the feuding, gossiping, trouble-making noble families in Paris. He had the whole palace and its massive gardens built along an East/West axis so the sun would rise and set in alignment with his home. And he filled both the palace and its gardens with sculpture, painting, and fountains that all focused on…you guessed it…himself.

When you walk through the palace at Versailles, you’re bombarded with room after room of marble and gold and paintings: ceilings painted to place Louis in the company of the Greek gods, busts of him in a huge formal curly wig staring at you wherever you go, and gold gold gold, so you never lose sight of how wealthy the King of France was. To give you just a hint, we’re talking about a man who spent the equivalent of 5,000,000 euros on buttons over the 54 years of his reign.  That is an average of almost 100,000 euros per year.  On buttons. 

Of the 700 rooms inside the palace, there are a few notable ones that served very particular functions. The king’s official state bedroom is one, where the incredibly detailed lever (rising) and coucher (going to sleep) rituals would be performed each day. Both involved a whole host of courtiers waiting on the king while he got up or went to bed, following strict rules of position and rank to determine who got to perform which parts of the ceremony.

The queens of France who lived at Versailles were the focus of a similar ritual (the Toilette) in the queen’s main bedchamber, a room where they also gave birth in public. The symmetrical Salon of War and Salon of Peace are decorated with paintings highlighting, unsurprisingly, France’s military might and the benefits of living calmly under a tranquil ruling government. And the Cabinet des Chiens (literally, the Study for Dogs) was a room that Louis XV’s valets shared with his dogs, who also got to sleep in a room full of gilding and painted decoration.

The most famous room is the Hall of Mirrors, which runs along the entire length of the central building. One wall contains a row of giant windows looking out over the gardens (almost 2,000 acres of manicured lawns, fountains and paths arranged in the formal garden style that André le Nôtre was known for), and the other wall is covered with 357 mirrors that catch the setting sun’s rays inside the palace and remind us yet again (as if we could forget) of Louis XIV’s power.

Though the room is over the top in its grandeur, it was mainly used as a passageway. After the king got up for the day, he proceeded through this mirrored hall to his private chapel, and as many courtiers as could fit would squeeze in, waiting for their chance to beg a favor of the king as he passed by them. Since Louis XIV’s day, the room has also been used for parties (the masked ball for the wedding of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette) and military agreements (the Treaty of Versailles that officially ended World War I was signed here in 1919).

When Versailles was being built, this ancient past was seen as the root of the intellectual and aesthetic superiority they believed had descended to the French nation. Classical architecture was the name of the game at Versailles, and although it wasn’t as complicated as some of Louis XIV's other choices, he was making a direct link from himself all the way back to the great thinkers and builders of the ancient, classical, past.

Louis, ever modest, especially liked linking himself directly to the Greek god Apollo (Sun King = Sun God… subtle wasn’t Louis’s middle name). The Apollo Fountain and Apollo Salon remain two of the major highlights of a visit to Versailles. Not content with the restraint of pure classical design, he had his team create a palace that used classical structures to contain the elaborate grandeur of the Baroque style that was all the rage in the mid-seventeenth century. He wanted to make the biggest possible statement and what he ended up with was Versailles: a palace designed to glorify the French monarch by incorporating both ornate Baroque decoration that amply demonstrates his wealth and glory and the stricter rules of classicism that express his intellectual and cultural stature. 

https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/ap-art-history/early-europe-and-colonial-americas/reformation-counter-reformation/a/chteau-de-versailles

Sainte Chapelle is always on our list of places to visit

Built on the Ile de la Cité in the heart of the French capital, the Sainte-Chapelle de Paris, also known as the Sainte-Chapelle du Palais was specially built to house Christian artefacts like the Crown of Thorns and a piece of the True Cross as well as other relics related to the crucifixion of Christ.

A monument fit for the most beautiful relics

At the beginning of the 13th century, Emperor Baudouin II de Courtenay, the last emperor of Constantinople urgently needs money and in order to get it, he offers to sell his most precious religious artefact: the Crown of Thorns, placed on Jesus’ head before the crucifixion. In 1237, the Emperor leaves for a European voyage hoping to find a buyer and an ally to join him in his latest crusade. He meets with French king Louis IX. While the king is not interested in joining the emperor’s crusade, he is interested in the Crown of Thorns and other relics for sale in Venice. For 135 000 pounds, the crown of the thorns is brought to France, arriving in Paris in 1239.

The day after the arrival of the crown in Paris, a great ceremony is organized, during which the relic is placed in the chapel of Saint-Nicolas de la Cité. Three years later, two new artefacts sold by the emperor arrive in Paris: Relics of the Passion of Christ and a part of the True Cross (on which Jesus was crucified). These were considered to be direct proof of the story of Jesus and his crucifixion. These three relics, now owned by the king, are particularly important to Christians. Louis IX decides to place these precious items in a more prestigious location than the little Saint-Nicolas Chapel. Thus, the king calls for the construction of a new chapel within the old Palais Royal de l’Ile de la Cité, specially designed to house these sacred items.

Through the power of the Holy Spirit

While the name of the original architect of the Sainte-Chapelle de Paris remains unconfirmed to this day, some texts have mentioned the name Pierre de Montreuil. At the start of the project in 1240, the architect of the Sainte-Chapelle must already have been a man of a certain age, who possessed quite a bit of favour with the king. Thus in 1242, construction work begins. The project is completed just six years later in 1248, an impressive accomplishment considering the complex gothic architecture of the chapel. It is a architectural masterpiece combining fine workmanship and precision.

Lower chapel and upper chapel

Entirely dedicated to the Virgin Mary, the lower chapel of the Sainte-Chapelle was once reserved for members of court. The lower chapel is notable for the lack of lighting, lending it an almost mystical quality. The lack of light is due to its unusually small windows and lower ceilings.

Located above the lower chapel, the upper chapel is dedicated to the relics of the Crucifixion and is directly connected to the first floor of the Palais Royal by a small door. Thus, access to the upper chapel was, at the time, exclusively reserved for members of the royal family. A massive rosette dominates the entryway and bathes the chapel’s floors, walls and sculptures in light. The atmosphere, the lofty architecture, the massive stained glass windows and warmly coloured light of this room are in stark contrast to the darkness of the lower chapel.

A symbol of royalty gone wrong

A true symbol of the monarchy, the Sainte-Chapelle was one of the first targets of French Revolutionaries in 1789. While two-thirds of its stained glass windows are original, different restorations throughout the chapel’s history have removed some of its panels. Similarly, among the twelve statues of the apostles located at the base of the ogive arches, only those that adorn the stage in front of the apse are genuine. The other statues are replicas of the originals, which were badly damaged during the French Revolution and are now stored at the Cluny Museum.

The furniture, stalls, the rood screen and all the regalia were also destroyed during the Revolution. At this time, reliquaries and boxes were sent to the mint to be melted down. Only the Crown of Thorns was saved from the destruction. In order to accommodate shelving, 2 metres of stained glass was removed from the upper chapel and it was temporarily converted into archival storage. The removed stained glass windows were, for the most part sold to England.

Between 1840 and 1868, the chapel finally underwent works to restore it to its authentic original appearance and preserve its historical value for future generations.

https://www.cometoparis.com/paris-guide/paris-monuments/sainte-chapelle-s945

Try to fit an evening concert into your plans

What will be the best way to experience  Sainte Chapelle? The answer is – by attending the musical Sainte Chapelle concerts held in the evenings. (Generally Thursdays)

By day, you can explore the history and interiors of the church, and by evening, you can enjoy the gleaming concerts of classical music.

These concerts at Sainte Chapelle are a great way to experience music by great musicians in an antique 12th-century building.

The interiors of Sainte Chapelle  make it a perfect location for a beautiful, intimate venue for classical concerts.

Sainte-Chapelle events are also held most evenings during the summers and weekends around the year.

These concerts most often include Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, Bach, Mozart and Handel and music from many other famous composers.

Stroll down the Champs-Élysées

 

The Champs-Elysees does not need an introduction.  The above photo is of my granddaughter in May 2022.  My goal is to introduce as many of my grandchildren to Paris as possible and to start with the Champs-Élysées.  It is a must see on the list of Paris's top attractions.  Every day nearly 300,000 people come to shop, admire the majestic monuments, or get caught up in the excitement of the major festive events that are organized there.  There is always something going on and it maintains its reputation as the world's most beautiful avenue, both during the day and at night.

We personally love to visit this avenue in December during the Christmas market.  It is even more spectacular that the feeling one has visiting Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza in New York at the same time of year.

The Champs-Élysées is a truly lovely avenue: a picture postcard scene. Nearly 2 kilometres in length, this historic thoroughfare runs from Place de la Concorde to the majestic Arc de Triomphe. But though it has since become ‘the world’s most beautiful avenue’, the Champs-Élysées was once a swamp. It was in the 17th century that André Le Nôtre, gardener to the Sun King, traced its original path. And thus a legend was born. The avenue has only become more beautiful with every passing decade.

The range and variety of stores along the Champs-Élysées will gladden the heart of any shopper. There’s something for everyone. Get set for a fantastic day out shopping!

A stroll on the avenue (affectionately referred to by Parisians as ‘les Champs’) offers an opportunity to browse products from many renowned French brands. J.M. Weston moccasins; crocodile-logo polo shirts from Lacoste; Longchamp’s iconic Le Pliage foldable bags; every French girl’s underwear basic, i.e. cotton panties from Petit Bateau, and Éric Bompard cashmere sweaters: fashion-conscious shoppers will find all these and more along the famous avenue.

This prestigious location is also home to a number of luxury brands. Legendary perfume maker Guerlain has had its premises here in a listed building since 1913, while the Louis Vuitton flagship – nothing short of a cathedral of luxury – doubles as a contemporary art museum, to the delight of visitors. The high-end American jewellery brand Tiffany & Co has also sited its boutique along the famous Paris avenue. A sister store to the flagship on New York’s Fifth Avenue, it is a setting straight out of the Audrey Hepburn film Breakfast at Tiffany’s! You’ll also find other renowned makers of designer jewellery and watches on the avenue, like Cartier and Mauboussin.

If you’re on a budget, not to worry: the avenue also has plenty of affordable ready-to-wear and sportswear brands, like Zara, Sephora and Nike, not to mention the official PSG store selling the well-known Paris football club’s merchandise.

Foodies will find many delights to sample on a stroll along the Champs-Élysées: there is a Ladurée, known for mouth-watering French macarons, while a unique sensory experience mingling fragrance and pâtisserie is to be had at 86 Champs, an innovative concept store that’s the result of a tie-up between Pierre Hermé and L’Occitane.  Laduree is our favorite stop because of the thick hot chocolate.  It is a memory to eat on the elegant china while sipping the chocolate.

The Champs-Élysées is a cultural hotspot, boasting cinemas, theatres, exhibition venues … take your pick!

Theatre lovers can head to the famous Théâtre du Rond-Point, which puts on contemporary plays; the Théâtre Marigny, the Espace Pierre Cardin or the nearby Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.

If you’re keen to visit an exhibition, there is a Paris must-see only a short distance from the Champs-Élysées roundabout: the imposing Grand Palais. Built for the Universal Exhibition in 1900, this monument hosts the supersize exhibitions held in the French capital. And, just across the street, you can admire the superb collection of artworks at the Petit Palais.

As for film enthusiasts: the avenue is dotted with cinema halls. In fact, it is the street with the largest number of cinemas in Paris – including ‘vintage’ halls dating back to the 1930s, like UGC Normandie, UGC George V and Gaumont Champs-Élysées. There are some arthouse cinemas too in the area, like L’Elysée-Lincoln and Le Balzac. And, for a unique cinema-going experience, head to the unusual MK2, tucked away inside the Grand Palais.

A number of events take place on the Champs-Elysées all year round.

On Bastille Day, the avenue is the place to go: it is decked out in the French national colours to host the world-famous 14th July parade.

When it comes to sporting events, the avenue is the starting point for the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris (in April), and the place where cyclists riding the Tour de France cross the finish line after the final stage (in July).

In June, the Champs-Elysées Film Festival takes over the avenue, placing the spotlight on the best independent French and American films over an 8-day period with screenings, talks and showcase events. An entire week devoted to cinema, during which the rooftop of the Publicis building is opened specially for the occasion.

The year-end festivities see the Champs-Elysées lit up with seasonal sparkle, with superb illuminations to be admired all along the avenue. On 31 December, people ring in the new year on the avenue with a countdown displayed on the Arc de Triomphe. 

https://parisjetaime.com/eng/article/all-you-need-to-know-about-the-champs-elysees-a708

My Personal Favorite - the Musee D'Orsay

 

The history of the museum, of its building is quite unusual. In the centre of Paris on the banks of the Seine, opposite the Tuileries Gardens, the museum was installed in the former Orsay railway station, built for the Universal Exhibition of 1900. So the building itself could be seen as the first "work of art" in the Musee d'Orsay, which displays collections of art from the period 1848 to 1914.

Musée d’Orsay, (French: “Orsay Museum”) national museum of fine and applied arts in Paris that features work mainly from France between 1848 and 1914. Its collection includes painting, sculpture, photography, and decorative arts and boasts such iconic works as Gustave Courbet's "The Artist's Studion, Edouard Manet's  Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe (1863; Luncheon on the Grass,  and Pierre-Auguste Renoir's  Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette (1876; Bal du moulin de la Galette).

The Musée d’Orsay is housed in the former Gare d’Orsay, a railway station and hotel that was designed by Victor Laloux and located on the Left Bank of the Seine River  opposite the Tuileries Gardens. At the time of its completion in 1900, the building featured an ornate Beaux Arts  façade, while its interior boasted metal construction, passenger elevators, and electric rails. Because of changes in railway technology, however, the station soon became outdated and was largely vacant by the 1970s. Talks to transform the building into an art museum began early in the decade and were finalized in 1977 through the initiative of Pres. Valery Giscard d'Estaing.  With government funds, the building was restored and remodeled in the early 1980s by ACT architecture group.  When I served my mission in Paris, in 1971-72 the paints from the Musee D'Orsay were housed in the "jeu de pommes" museum next to the U.S Embassy in the Place de la Concorde.

The interior of the musee D'Orsay was designed by Gaetana Aulenti, who created a complex layout of galleries that occupied three main levels surrounding the atrium beneath the building’s iconic iron-and-glass barrel vault. On the ground floor, formerly the building’s train platforms, extensive stone structures broke up the cavernous space and created a central nave for the sculpture collection and gallery spaces for painting and decorative arts.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Musee-dOrsay

I believe that the impressionistic movement was launched by this controversial painting by Manet called "Dejeuner sur l'herbe."  It is housed in the Musee D'Orsay.

Other noteable works include the self-portrait of Van Gogh, the various stages of the sun rising and setting on the Gare St. Lazare.

Another famous painting in the Musee D'Orsay is this one called Rue Montorgueil, Celebration of the Liberation of France.

What is the story of the Eiffel Tower?

The Eiffel Tower was built from 1887 to 1889 by French engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company specialized in building metal frameworks and structures. Gustave Eiffel is at the origin of many metallic works  in Europe including the Porto Viaduct (Portugal), the Viaduct du Garabit (France) and the Budapest train station (Hungary).

Gustave Eiffel's company, that was located in Levallois Perret, very near Paris, France, also built the metal framework for another world-famous monument: the Statue of Liberty (New York, United States), designed by Auguste Bartholdi and offered to the United States as a gift from France to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the American Declaration of Independence in 1886.

The Eiffel Tower is made of iron, not steel. The puddle iron that makes up the Eiffel Tower's structure came from the Pompey forges (East of France). The iron plates and beams produced through the puddling process were then preassembled in the Eiffel factories in Levallois Perret using rivets.

Finally, these pieces were taken to the Eiffel Tower construction site to be mounted. The prefab system is what allowed them to build the Eiffel Tower in a record time of 2 years, 2 months and 5 days.

The Eiffel Tower was built to be one the main attractions at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. That year, the World's Fair covered the entire Champ de Mars in Paris and its focus was the vast constructions in iron and steel that were the great industrial advancement of that time.

First called the 300-meter Tower, it soon took the name of the man who built it, Gustave Eiffel. The Tower opened to the public the same day as the World's Fair, on May 15, 1889.

Controversy over the Tower raged in the art world before and during its construction, but thanks to the audacity of its architecture and design, visitors and Parisians immediately fell under its charm and more than 2 million people toured it in the first year. 

Since it was built and opened to the public in 1889, the Eiffel Tower instantly gained an international fame, as it was then the tallest building in the world. Its peculiar iron silhouette instantly traveled across the world in the newspapers. Built for the 1889 Exposition universelle (World's Fair) which took place in Paris, Gustave Eiffel's masterpiece aimed to show to the world the audacity of the French in the industrial and technological domains at the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.

Being the first tower to reach the height of 1,000 feet - twice as any structure previously erected- the Eiffel Tower remained the highest building in the world during 40 years: until the Empire State Building was erected in New York in 1931!

Since 1889, the Eiffel Tower has always been opened for visits (except during the Word War 2 and the Covid-19 Pandemic): nearly 330 million visitors experienced the magic of the ascent -by elevator, or by the stairs - and discovered t8he magnificent view over Paris. Thanks to its universal power of attraction, it's the most visited monument in the world, with nearlty 7M visitors each year.

Its height and unique silhouette floating above the Paris landscape quickly made the Eiffel Tower one of the most popular attractions in Paris. The Tower's destiny is closely linked to that of the city of Paris, the capital of France and the Eiffel Tower's owner.

Since the beginning, the Eiffel Tower drew attention and served as the theatre for numerous events in the life of Paris and France: the grandiose fireworks on July 14 ("Bastille Day"), national-level events and large-scale sporting events.

The Tower can be seen from many and various points around Paris and its suburbs. It is photographed, drawn, filmed, and replicated in all kinds of circumstances. It is the monument photographed by all visitors to Paris. It naturally slipped into the role of symbolizing France in the collective imagination, in movies and graphic arts but also in literature and poetry.

For 130 years, the Eiffel Tower has been a powerful and distinctive symbol of the city of Paris, and by extension, of France. At first, when it was built for the 1889 World's Fair, it impressed the entire world by its stature and daring design, and symbolized French know-how and industrial genius.

A monument known around the world and a unique tourist attraction, the Eiffel Tower has loyally accompanied the people of Paris and its suburbs in their daily life. Rising to a height of 330 meters, it can be seen from all over Paris, and beyond, day and night until 1 am thanks to its lighting, the twinkling illumination at fixed times and its beacon that reaches out to 80 km, at 360 degrees.

The Eiffel Tower has witnessed and sometimes been an actor in important events, both sumptuous and tragic, in France's history. In its early years the Eiffel Tower was a productive laboratory for scientific experiments, in particular for wireless telegraphy, which saved it from destruction after the initially scheduled period of 20 years. The

Tower's destiny is also intimately linked to technical advancements in radio and television. The TDF installations and emitters at its summit broadcast all the digital terrestrial television and radio channels to the 12 million inhabitants of île de France.

Today, the Eiffel Tower's lights are turned off at night to honor the victims of dramatic events around the world. Even more than a symbol, it has become a means of expression for the city of Paris and all of France. 

We have to first put the Eiffel Tower back in its historical context. It was two engineers who worked in Gustave Eiffel's company who, in 1884, imagined building a metal tower  300 meters high for the 1889 World's Fair in Paris.

These engineers were specialists in large-scale metallic structures like bridges, railway stations, viaducts, etc. It was only natural that the first sketch of the 300-meter Tower, issued from the calculations made by these two engineers, shows a pylon with 4 legs, each made of 4 robust beams linked together by open-web- joists that rise diagonally to meet at the summit.

All these shapes and curves simply recall the biggest viaducts built by Eiffel around the same time!

The Eiffel Tower was built in record time: 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. From late January 1887 to March 31, 1889. In addition to the technical and architectural prowess, the Tower's rapid construction also represented an unparalleled achievement at that time. 

The Tower has three levels that are open to the public: the 1st level, 2nd level and top. The 2nd floor has 2 levels, as does the summit (an enclosed lower level, and an open-air level above). Our visitors can reach the first two levels either by stairs or elevator. The ascension from the 2nd level to the summit is only possible by elevator. 

The Eiffel Tower weighs approximately 10,100 tons. The metal framework alone weighs 7,300 tons while the paint that protects the structure "only' weighs 60 tons!

https://www.toureiffel.paris/en/news/history-and-culture/15-essential-things-know-about-eiffel-tower