It is hard to believe that this is the last day of March already. On this date in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was officially opened.

The Eiffel Tower was constructed by the engineering firm of Gustav Eiffel as the entry portal to the Exposition Universelle of 1889 or what is now commonly called a World's Fair which was held on the Champ de Mars. The Exposition Universelle of 1889 coincided with the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. The site was the location of a previous exposition two years earlier, the Paris Universal Exposition, and then in 1900, still another exposition was held again at the same location.

The Eiffel Tower was controversial from its inception. Initially, Gustav Eiffel was not particularly fond of the design which was developed by two of the engineers in his firm, but he gave the okay for further work on the design. The two engineers enlisted help from one of the firm's architects who made some visual enhancements to the design, including the decorative arches at the base and a glass pavilion on the first level. Upon seeing the enhanced design, Gustav Eiffel was so pleased that he bought the patent rights to to it from the three men who had collaborated on the design..

Meanwhile, many people in France thought the design was questionable aesthetically and still others questioned the feasibility of constructing a structure so tall. In particular many artists and writers in Paris were opposed to the Tower based upon artistic grounds. One characterization of the proposed Tower was as thus:

We, writers, painters, sculptors, architects and passionate devotees of the hitherto untouched beauty of Paris, protest with all our strength, with all our indignation in the name of slighted French taste, against the erection … of this useless and monstrous Eiffel Tower … To bring our arguments home, imagine for a moment a giddy, ridiculous tower dominating Paris like a gigantic black smokestack, crushing under its barbaric bulk Notre Dame, the Tour Saint-Jacques, the Louvre, the Dome of les Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe, all of our humiliated monuments will disappear in this ghastly dream. And for twenty years … we shall see stretching like a blot of ink the hateful shadow of the hateful column of bolted sheet metal.

At the time of its completion, the 986 foot tall Eiffel Tower was the tallest man made structure in the world, far surpassing the Washington Monument (555 feet high) which was the previous record holder. It held the record for the tallest man made structure for forty one more years until the Chrysler Building was constructed in New York City. Since then many man made structures have far surpassed the Eiffel Tower, but few can rival it as being one of the most recognizable landmarks in the world.

Here's a neat video about the Eiffel Tower. The height stated in the video is different from the one posted earlier in this diary, but I believe that may have been due to the addition of some radio antennas after its construction. The video lasts about six minutes for those who are interested.

This is an open thread, so feel free to post whatever you wish.