Photos of Europe

The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel, /tuʀ ɛfɛl/) is an iron tower built during 1887-1889 on the Champ de Mars beside the Seine River in Paris. The tower has become a global icon of France and is one of the most recognizable structures in the world.

Named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower is the tallest building in Paris.^[1] More than 200,000,000 people have visited the tower since its construction in 1889,^[2] including 6,719,200 in 2006,^[3] making it the most visited paid monument in the world.^[4][5] Including the 24 m (79 ft) antenna, the structure is 324 m (1,063 ft) high (since 2000), which is equivalent to about 81 levels in a conventional building.

At the time of completion in 1889, it was the world's tallest tower — a title it retained until 1930 when New York City's Chrysler Building (319 m — 1,047 ft tall) was completed.^[6] The tower is now the fifth-tallest structure in France and the tallest structure in Paris, with the second-tallest being the Tour Montparnasse (210 m, 689 ft). The Tour AXA will be taller still after renovation (225.11 m, 738.36 ft), but it is not actually within Paris, being in the nearby suburb of La Défense.