Eiffel Tower: Winning Over a Skeptical Nation
Eiffel argued that the tower's curves were mathematically designed to resist wind forces, creating an organic beauty. He also personally invested 80% of the construction costs, which was 1.5 million francs. This financial risk proved his ultimate confidence in the project.
The battle of the blueprints
Engineering an iron giant
Saved by science
A global pop culture icon
diego The Battle of the Blueprints
Ditch the giant guillotine, scrap the heavy stone, the iron takes the throne!
diego Play the Eiffel Tower blueprint game. Experience the historic design battle and guide your way to the top in this interactive educational challenge.
Eiffel's protest lunch: Writer Guy de Maupassant ate lunch at the tower's restaurant daily because it was the only place in Paris where he couldn't see the tower.
diego Two senior engineers in Eiffel's company actually drew the initial sketches of the tower.
A technical photographic print of an architectural plan or engineering design used to guide construction. Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier drafted the Parisian tower's original blueprints in 1884 before selling the patent.
Which two engineers from Gustave Eiffel's company drew the very first sketches of the tower?
Which famous French writer ate lunch inside the Eiffel Tower just because he hated looking at it?