22 facts about the Eiffel Tower

1. The Eiffel Tower (French: Tour Eiffel) is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world.
2. Eiffel Tower has been named after its designer, engineer Gustave Eiffel.
3. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in the world; millions of people ascend it every year.
4. The construction work of Eiffel Tower started on January 26, 1887 and was completed on March 31, 1889.
5. Eiffel Tower was initially intended to be dismantled and sold as scrap 20 years after its construction, but this never happened.
6. Till 1930, Eiffel Tower was the tallest building in the whole world.
7. Eiffel Tower was inaugurated on March 31, 1889.
   
8. The metal structure of the Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes, while the entire structure, including non-metal parts, weighs around 10,100 tonnes.
9. In 1889, the cost of construction of the Eiffel Tower was around 7,799,401.31 French gold francs.
10. Not including broadcast antennas, it is the second-tallest structure in France, behind the Millau Viaduct, completed in 2004.
11. 2,500,000 rivets and 18,038 iron parts make up the Eiffel Tower.
12. One can visit the different floors of the monument via elevators.
13. The four pillars of the Eiffel Tower stand in a square that measures 125 meters on each side.
14. Eiffel Tower is home to dozens of antennas, of all sorts, including a television mast that is 324 meters high.
15. Eiffel Tower hosted the first French radiophonic experiments and also played a crucial role in the inception of French television.
16. Approximately 60 tons of paint and a time period of 15 to 18 months is required to paint the Eiffel Tower.
17. Eiffel Tower is painted every 7 years. It gets covered in 3 shades of brown, with the darkest one at the bottom.
18. And while the Eiffel Tower is an iron structure, and weighs approximately 10,000 tonnes, it actually has a relatively low density, weighing less than a cylinder of air occupying the same dimensions as the tower.
19. 4 tons of dusters & cleaning cloths, 10,000 doses of cleaning items, 400 liters of detergents and 25,000 bin bags are needed to clean Eiffel Tower.
20. On a clear day, one can see up to 42 miles away, from the top of Eiffel Tower.
21. Till 2003, over 200 million people had visited the Eiffel Tower, since its inception.
22. Eiffel Tower has two restaurants, on the first and second platforms, named Altitude and Jules Verne.