The Eiffel Tower was built by Gustave Eiffel, a French engineer specialized in revolutionary steel constructions, for the 1889 world exhibition. The tower originally had no practical use. The intent was just to demonstrate the capabilities of modern engineering. A daring engineer's dream, the Eiffel Tower weighs 7000 tons, but the pressure it applies on the ground is only equivalent to that of a chair with a man seated on it!

At 300 meters tall, it remained the world's highest building until the construction of the Chrysler Building in New York city in 1929. Now 320 meters high with its television antennas, it still towers above Paris, a city almost free from skyscrapers. Open air elevators bring you up to the first (57 meters high), the second (115 meters high) and the third floors (276 meters high). Each one provides different and interesting views of Paris and the surrounding Ile de France region.