CDG

48˚ 51’ 32” N | 2˚ 17’ 40” E
CDGE13304*
The names of 72 French scientists and engineers are inscribed on the Eiffel Tower. Originally painted gold they appear on the perimeter of the first floor. © Vast Compass, 2025.

A fine metal trinket

I’ll never forget the first time I saw her in person—she took my breath away.

It turns out my emotional reaction upon seeing the Eiffel Tower from above and afar that sunny morning was a moment largely anticipated in 1905 by social critic Léon Bloy when he caustically wrote, “I love the Paris of great minds—a Paris that is threatened by this truly tragic street lamp which springs forth from her belly and will be visible by night twenty leagues above the mountaintops, like a beacon of disaster and despair.” Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it?

But the novelist, essayist, and satirist known for his acerbic wit continued, “I appeal, however, to its construction with all my being...because I sense that this fine metal trinket has quite the future in store...” Bloy’s sense of the Tower’s future was spot on. That future—meaning her backstory, seen from today’s vantage point—is something I knew nothing about. But in the intervening decades I’ve studied and read, revisited and reread. All to get better up to speed with ‘all things Eiffel Tower’.

The good news is the fine metal trinket is doing just fine. She has held her own against all comers, beginning with those who objected to her being raised in the first place. She also survived a contract ensuring demolition 20 years after her construction. And she even dodged a fateful encounter with Adolph Hitler in WWII when underlings disobeyed his order to raze her to prevent radio antennas atop the Tower’s crown from falling under enemy control.

From tragic street lamp to appointment viewing

Her storied past is one reason more than 7 million visitors every year make the pilgrimage to see her for themselves. But I believe it’s her beguiling beauty that is the reason 300 million tourists over the decades have made her Paris’ top attraction, many returning or waiting to visit after sunset. Because, at risk of making Bloy’s use of the term ‘street lamp’ more prescient than it is, the Eiffel Tower today is the world’s premier light show.

Fitted with sophisticated circuitry powering many thousands of bulbs on the exterior and interior of its framework, the Tower glows, sparkles, and even changes colors. She’s the Meryl Streep of world monuments—seemingly able to play any role. While projected light extravaganzas have become all the rage in the new Millennium, from Egypt’s pyramids on the Giza plateau to Saks Fifth Avenue’s holiday light show in New York City, the Eiffel Tower is unique because it’s lighted in three dimensions. That is, she’s flooded in golden light from the inside, she twinkles from crystal clear light on the outside, and her crown is a spinning, twisting corona of diaphanous beams spinning in the darkness.

Two trademarks protect her lighting designs—one covers general illumination of the Tower, while the other covers the network of lights that make her twinkle on the hour, post-1999. Its original rotating beacons at the summit round out the design. Taken in total, the Tower’s lighting is appointment viewing of the highest order. But these trademark protections mean nighttime photography of the Tower cannot be used commercially without going through the rigmarole and expense of a special license. (That means no gorgeous nighttime photos of the Iron Lady here.)

Tchotchkes, trinkets, and postcards

Before we return home from our first trip to Paris together, Allen and I each buy our own fine metal trinkets to remember our trip by. In truth, a replica of the Eiffel Tower in cast metal seems to be the Parisian equivalent of a passport stamp, required by some inviolable Law of Travel. Whether a Tower keychain, magnet, or postcard, 20% of all visitors to the Eiffel Tower buy a souvenir, with keepsakes related to the monument generating about $35 million annually. (Shadow economy vendors hawking their wares on every corner and embankment where tourists gather across the city mean the actual economic spend related to the Tower is much higher.)

Two opposing thoughts with multiple reasons why

Léon Bloy’s wry wit is what you’d expect from a leading pamphleteer of his time—as X proves today, trolls know how to capture readers. But Bloy also makes an insightful observation and proves the truth of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s maxim that an intelligent mind can hold two opposing thoughts at the same time. As we know from other posts in this series, there were plenty of others before Bloy who weren’t nearly so circumspect when the Eiffel Tower was first proposed, and there are a couple of reasons why.

From Giza to Gustave

The first thing to know of the Eiffel Tower’s dramatic backstory is that for nearly four thousand years the world’s highest structure was the Great Pyramid on the Giza plateau west of Cairo. And when Gustave Eiffel proposed his 1,000-foot-high Tower in 1884, the world’s first skyscraper was still six years in the future.

(Even in 1890, when architect Louis Sullivan’s Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri was built, that first skyscraper reached only 10 stories, or about 135 feet in height. Structures 1,000-feet tall simply weren’t in the average person’s daily line of sight in 1889.)

The Eiffel Tower and Tour Montparnasse in relation to other high points in Paris. Photo credit: IIVQ, Wikimedia Commons.

“My tower will be the tallest edifice
ever erected by man. Will it not also be grand
in its way? And why should we not show
the science and skill of our age?”

—Gustave Eiffel

A big unknown

So the question of height as it related to Gustave Eiffel’s grand project was a big ’unknown’ and explains why Parisians watched with both trepidation and fascination as his Tower rose in the 7th arrondissement across 26 months from January 1887 to the end of March 1889. The Tower’s neighbors had concerns following a logic that is easy to grasp. Was the Tower safe? Was it likely to collapse of its own weight? Would it blow over in a storm, or sink, or tilt? Would its shade destroy gardens? Would its presence blight not only the skyline, but also destroy property values?

And then there was the matter of aesthetics, another topic we cover in depth in a separate post. Critics were plentiful, their words unequivocal. It all fot a bit dramatic, really.

Quite the future

Fortunately, the drama which accompanied the Eiffel Tower’s inception began to wane almost immediately. Even before its completion, the souvenirs and mementos you can find on ebay today were all the rage when the Tower opened in 1889. Fast forward to the 21st century, and travel and tourism in France accounts for 8-9% of the country’s GDP. In Paris alone visitors generates 3.5% of all economic activity and creates 1 in 10 jobs. While Léon Bloy may not have been thinking of such mundane things as Airbnb rates during the 2024 Olympic Games, or online scammers purporting to sell ‘skip the line tickets’ to the Eiffel Tower, he was right in surmising that the monument had, “quite the future in store.”

I know her!

Today 98% of people globally recognize the Eiffel Tower’s bespoke silhouette, making her as French as Chanel or Dior, Veuve Clicquot or Perrier, Renault or Bridget Bardot. And like Bridget Bardot, she also has her own protected brand with licensable logos (versions designed for adults and children), and a clearly articulated mission and set of values. From those values and their promise of excellence, one phrase in particular stands out.

The Eiffel Tower brand
is a testament to our commitment
to make dreams come true.

From la Boutique Officiel @ shop.toureifell.paris

Aquarelles, eau de parfum, et choclat

Snow globes, $600 rivets, and candle scents aside, for me, making dreams come true is what travel ultimately is all about. The point being, as a kid I’d always imagined visiting Paris as something unlikely, out of reach—only for romantics and dreamers and lucky travelers. As it turns out I’m all three.

And now, after more than 30 years and several dozen trips to France, Allen and I look back on our own backstory. To borrow a phrase, we’ve had, “quite the future.” While I haven’t yet ponied up for the rivet, we’ve had the joy of collecting historical architectural prints from the Seine’s bouquinistes and aquarelles of Paris rooftops from galleries on the Left Bank. We’ve honed an affinity for French eau de parfum and chocolat. We have a favorite restaurant we call our own, with its view of Notre Dame just across the Seine. And yes, we have multiple Eiffel Towers on our respective and collective desks—fine metal trinkets, to a one.

De rigueur, indeed.

Recommendation

I can’t point you toward The Greater Journey with greater enthusiasm. Spanning 70 years (1830-1900) the account of some of America’s foremost personalities as they discover Paris is pure pleasure to read. It includes the years during which the Statue of Liberty and the Eiffel Tower were built.

Quite the future

CDG

“My tower will be the tallest edificeever erected by man. Will it not also be grandin its way? And why should we not showthe science and skill of our age?”

The Eiffel Tower brandis a testament to our commitmentto make dreams come true.

A second iron age

So many parts

“My tower will be the tallest edifice
ever erected by man. Will it not also be grand
in its way? And why should we not show
the science and skill of our age?”

The Eiffel Tower brand
is a testament to our commitment
to make dreams come true.