To think it was built in 1889
During construction, a chunk of the French intelligentsia let it be known they weren't impressed.All the elements were prepared in Eiffel’s factory located at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris. Each of the 18,000 pieces used to construct the Tower were specifically designed and calculated, traced out to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimetre and then put together forming new pieces around five metres each. A team of constructors, who had worked on the great metal viaduct projects, were responsible for the 150 to 300 workers on site assembling this gigantic erector set.
Once it opened at the expo, much of the criticism abated.We come, we writers, painters, sculptors, architects, lovers of the beauty of Paris which was until now intact, to protest with all our strength and all our indignation, in the name of the underestimated taste of the French, in the name of French art and history under threat, against the erection in the very heart of our capital, of the useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower which popular ill-feeling, so often an arbiter of good sense and justice, has already christened the Tower of Babel
Nope. The Eiffel tower was only supposed to be up for 20 years. Stuff that you build almost always lasts far longer than you imagine. Sometimes that is okay.
BTW, lots of exciting HRTECH going on Paris. I have more clients in Paris than in any other city. I will be visiting again soon.