What's so great about the Eiffel Tower?

Softback. Cream paper with gilt Eiffel tower and black and orange title on the front board. Orange spine with black title.

What is so great about Eiffel Tower?

For 130 years, the Eiffel Tower has been a powerful and distinctive symbol of the city of Paris, and by extension, of France. At first, when it was built for the 1889 World's Fair, it impressed the entire world by its stature and daring design, and symbolized French know-how and industrial genius. The Eiffel Tower was built to be one the main attractions at the Paris World's Fair in 1889. That year, the World's Fair covered the entire Champ de Mars in Paris and its focus was the vast constructions in iron and steel that were the great industrial advancement of that time. The Tower has three floors that are open to the public: the 1st floor, 2nd floor and summit. The 2nd floor has 2 levels, as does the summit (an enclosed lower level, and an open-air level above). Jonathan Glancey is a journalist, author and broadcaster. He has worked for The Guardian, the Independent and the Architectural Review. He writes for BBC World and the Daily Telegraph. His books include New British Architecture, 20th Century Architecture and The Story of Architecture