In 1891, London built a structure designed to surpass the Eiffel Tower in height. It was unsteady, never completed and demolished in 1907.
- The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 Paris Exposition and was not intended to be permanent.
- The Eiffel Tower was going to be demolished in 1909, but was saved because it was repurposed as a giant radio antenna.
- The Eiffel Tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world: 6.07 million people in 2018.
- During WW2, when Hitler visited Paris, the French cut the lift cables on the Eiffel Tower so that Hitler would have to climb the steps if he wanted to reach the top.
- Con artist Victor Lustig "sold" the Eiffel Tower to a scrap metal dealer.
- The Eiffel Tower was originally intended for Barcelona, Spain, but the project was rejected.
- The height of the Eiffel Tower varies by 5.9 inches (15 cm) due to temperature changes.
- 1,665 steps are needed to climb all the way to the top of the Eiffel Tower.
- The Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure in Paris: 324 metres (1,063 ft) high.
- A woman named Erika La Tour Eiffel "married" the Eiffel Tower in 2007.
- There are 20,000 light bulbs on the Eiffel Tower.
- There are over 30 replicas of the Eiffel Tower around the world.
- The paint on the Eiffel Tower weighs as much as 10 elephants.
- Gustave Eiffel had an apartment for himself at the top of the Eiffel Tower.
- Gustave Eiffel, the man who designed the Eiffel Tower, was also behind the design for the Statue of Liberty's spine.
- At the time of its construction, the Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the world.
- 300 workers, 18,038 pieces of wrought iron and 2.5 million rivets were needed to build the Eiffel Tower.
- If the Eiffel Tower was built today, it would cost about US$31 million.
- The Eiffel Tower was almost temporarily relocated to Canada in 1967.
- In 1902, a lightning strike damaged the upper section of the Eiffel Tower, requiring the reconstruction of its top.
- The Eiffel Tower is not fully illuminated 24/7. Since 2013, it shuts off the lights at 1AM to save energy.
- Novelist Guy de Maupassant denounced the Eiffel Tower as a "useless and monstrous" structure. He liked to eat his meals in the restaurant at the tower's base, as it was the only place where he didn't have to look at it.
- The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated the same year Nintendo was founded and Adolf Hitler was born: 1889.
- It is illegal to reproduce photos of the Eiffel Tower at night.
- In 1891, a ride was planned that would drop passengers in free fall from the top of the Eiffel Tower into a pond at the bottom.