19 things you never knew about the Eiffel Tower

The INSIDER Summary:The Eiffel Tower was completed on March 31, 1889.This year, the iconic structure turns 128 years old.Most people don't know thatmany Parisians initially hated the Eiffel Tower, that its light show requires20,000 LED lights, orthat Gustave Eiffelhad a secret apartment on the third floor.It's impossible to think of Paris without picturing the Eiffel Tower.The world-famousattractionturns 128 years old on March 31, marking the date it was completed for the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) to honor the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.The tower continues to make an impression today, drawingnearlysevenmillion visitors from all over the world each year.In honor of the Eiffel Tower'supcoming birthday, here are somefascinating facts about the iconic iron structure.The Eiffel Tower wasn't the brainchild of Gustave Eiffel.The structure may benamed after Gustave Eiffel, but it was actually his senior engineers, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, who designed the building.Eiffel wasn't overly interested in the project, but sent the engineers to the head of hiscompanys architectural department, Stephen Sauvestre. With Sauvestre's edits, Eiffel got behind the final plans and bought the rights to the patent.It's made of 18,038 pieces of wrought iron.The pieces of iron areconnected by 2.5 million rivets. They were put in place by between150 and 300 workers who wereemployed to build the structure.It was completed in record time.Digging work on the site of the Eiffel Tower began onJanuary 28, 1887. Over a year later, on April 11, 1888, the tower'sfirst floor was completed, followed by the second flooron August 14, 1888. The final stage was completed on March 31, 1889just two years, two months, and five daysafter construction began.See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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