Every year, millions of visitors look up at the Iron Lady. Yet few are aware of the impressive statistics behind Paris’s most iconic monument. Before becoming a global symbol, the Eiffel Tower was first and foremost an extraordinary construction project, designed to push the boundaries of engineering in its time.
An extraordinary construction project that continues to impress more than a century later
Building a 300-meter tower at the end of the 19th century was almost like something out of science fiction. Yet Gustave Eiffel’s teams accomplished it in just 2 years, 2 months, and 5 days—a timeframe that still seems almost unrealistic today.
To achieve this, nothing was left to chance. The Tower is composed of 18, 038 metal parts, all manufactured in the Eiffel workshops in Levallois-Perret with precision down to a tenth of a millimeter. Such meticulous preparation made it possible to assemble the entire structure on the Champ-de-Mars like a giant jigsaw puzzle, without having to make any adjustments to the components on site.
Another staggering figure: more than 2.5 million rivets hold the structure together. Set while hot, they contract as they cool, ensuring an exceptionally strong assembly. Even the foundations presented a technical challenge. On the Seine side, workers labored underwater in airtight caissons supplied with compressed air—a particularly innovative method for the time.
A tower that nearly disappeared… before becoming the symbol of Paris
The technical feat didn’t end with its construction. At its inauguration on March 31, 1889, the elevators weren’t yet operational. So Gustave Eiffel and the officials climbed the 1,710 steps to the top to raise the French flag more than 300 meters high.
Perhaps the most surprising fact is that the Eiffel Tower was not originally intended to remain in Paris. Its lease was limited to twenty years, and its demolition was already scheduled. It was ultimately saved thanks to the first experiments in wireless telegraphy. By becoming a massive strategic radio antenna, it proved its usefulness and was permanently spared from destruction.
Today, it welcomes nearly 7 million visitors each year. But behind this familiar silhouette lie dozens of stories and anecdotes that you won’t discover just by looking up.
That is precisely the goal of *Le Symbole de Paris*, a one-hour immersive tour at the Champ-de-Mars. Through virtual reality, spatial audio, and 15 historical segments, the experience allows visitors to relive the major stages of the Eiffel Tower’s construction, as well as the history of the Champ-de-Mars and the events that have shaped the monument over the centuries. It’s an original way to put these numbers into perspective… and to understand why the Eiffel Tower has become so much more than just a monument.
The Symbol of Paris: Virtual Reality Guided Tour at the Foot of the Eiffel Tower
19 August 2026 10:00 + more dates