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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Inaugurated This Day (1889): The Eiffel Tower

In 1889, the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, was inaugurated, becoming the world's tallest tower of its era. With a height of 300-m (986-ft), it remained the world's tallest structure until surpassed by the Empire State Building, 40 years later. The designer Alexandre Gustave Eiffel, 56, celebrated by unfurling a French flag at the top of the tower.

The immense iron latticework design was chosen unanimously from 700 proposals submitted in a competition. Construction took from 26 Jan 1887 to 31 Mar 1889, using 300 steel workers. It was erected for the Paris Exposition of 1889, which had 1,968,287 visitors. link

A very young version of The Pixies tip their collective hats to Alex Eiffel: