Eiffel Tower Facts for Kids

This page is part of Paris Facts for Kids. Every fact below comes from the Eiffel Tower’s own official website or from the City of Paris’s website. Each fact has a number in brackets that matches a source at the bottom of the page, so if you use a fact for a school project, you can cite it directly.

Quick facts

Who really came up with the idea?

It was not Gustave Eiffel. In June 1884, two engineers at his company, Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, sketched a very tall pylon made of four lattice-work legs that would lean together at the top. Eiffel registered a patent for the idea on September 18, 1884⁴.

For the 1889 World’s Fair, the French government launched a competition and received 107 different project proposals. The one built by Eiffel’s team, with Koechlin and Nouguier as engineers, was chosen⁴.

Nouguier and Koechlin worried the plain iron pylon would look too much like a factory chimney, so they hired an architect, Stephen Sauvestre, to make it more attractive to the public. Sauvestre added the big arches at the base, glass-walled halls, and other decorations. Many of his ideas were simplified before construction, but the arches stayed, which is part of why the tower still looks the way it does⁴.

According to the City of Paris, the tower could easily have been named after Koechlin and Nouguier instead of Eiffel. Eiffel took over the patent for the design and put his own name on it, and that is the name that stuck⁸.

How was it built so fast?

Building the entire tower took just 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. Work on the foundations began on January 26, 1887. The pillars started going up on July 1, 1887. The first floor was finished by April 1, 1888, the second floor by August 14, 1888, and the whole tower was complete by March 31, 1889⁴.

Every one of the tower’s 18,038 iron parts was designed in a factory at Levallois-Perret, on the edge of Paris, and measured to an accuracy of a tenth of a millimeter⁴. Between 150 and 300 workers assembled the pieces on site, holding them together with rivets: metal pins heated red-hot, pushed through a hole, and hammered flat so they shrink tight as they cool. It took four workers per rivet. Only about a third of the tower’s 2,500,000 rivets were installed on site; the rest were fitted at the factory⁴.

Did people like the tower when it was new?

Not everyone. In February 1887, a group of famous writers and artists signed a public letter in the newspaper Le Temps called the “Protest against the Tower of Monsieur Eiffel.” Guy de Maupassant called it a “ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney.” Paul Verlaine called it a “belfry skeleton”⁴.

Gustave Eiffel answered in the same newspaper that the tower’s curved shape was designed above all to resist wind, and that strength and beauty go together. Once it was finished, the criticism faded, and the tower welcomed 2 million visitors during the 1889 World’s Fair⁴.

Why was the tower almost torn down?

The city’s permit for the tower only lasted 20 years, and it was originally supposed to be knocked down afterward. Gustave Eiffel knew this from the start, so he pushed to give the tower scientific uses: weather and astronomy observations, physics experiments, and eventually radio³.

On November 5, 1898, a scientist named Eugène Ducretet used the tower for the first wireless telegraphy test, sending a signal to the Panthéon, about 4 kilometers away, and in 1899 the tower’s radio waves crossed the English Channel for the first time³.

In 1903, with the tower’s permit due to run out in six years, Eiffel offered it to army officer Captain Gustave Ferrié for military radio experiments and personally paid for the work, which sent signals over 400 kilometers. The tests convinced the city, and it renewed Eiffel’s concession on January 1, 1910³.

How did the tower help during World War I?

In 1914, at the Battle of the Marne, the tower’s radio station picked up a German commander’s message revealing he was having supply problems and had to slow his advance. That helped the French army organize a counter-attack known as the “Taxis de la Marne.” The tower’s operators also decrypted enemy messages and helped expose spies, including Mata Hari³.

When did people start hearing the tower on the radio?

Starting in 1921, a transmitter on the tower began broadcasting music, and from 1925 it broadcast the daily news. A television studio was added in 1935. On June 2, 1953, the tower’s transmitter carried the coronation of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II live across France, a broadcast that marked the start of what became the Eurovision network³.

As new antennas were added, the tower grew taller, reaching 320.75 meters in 1957 and 324 meters in 2000³. Today it carries 120 antennas broadcasting 30 television channels and 32 radio stations³.

Who is Gustave Eiffel?

Gustave Eiffel was born in Dijon, France, in 1832. He was not born with the name “Eiffel.” His birth name was Alexandre Gustave Bonickhausen; his family, which had German roots, had used “Eiffel” as a nickname for generations, after the Eifel region of Germany. He made “Eiffel” his official legal name in 1880².

He trained as an engineer and went on to build railway bridges, including the Maria Pia Bridge in Porto, Portugal (1876) and the Garabit Viaduct in France (1884), plus the dome of the Nice Observatory and the internal iron framework that holds up the Statue of Liberty in New York (1884)².

In 1887, Eiffel agreed to build the locks for the Panama Canal. The project was badly managed and ended in France’s biggest financial scandal of the century; Eiffel was indicted for fraud and sentenced to two years in prison and a fine, though the court later cleared him and cancelled the sentence².

After that, Eiffel retired from business and spent his last 30 years as a scientist, studying weather and wind resistance, and built a wind tunnel on Rue Boileau in Paris in 1909 that is still used today². He married Marguerite Gaudelet in 1862; they had five children, and she died in 1877 at age 32. He never remarried, and died on December 27, 1923, at age 91².

Whose names are written on the tower?

Gustave Eiffel had the names of 72 French scientists and engineers engraved in gold letters around the first floor, to honor their work. The names disappeared during a repainting in the early 1900s and were restored in 1986 and 1987³. Since March 2025, the City of Paris and the association Femmes et Sciences have been working on a second, matching frieze with the names of 72 women scientists, to be placed above the original one; the proposed list was published in January 2026 and was still under review as of this article³.

How many steps does it really have?

The tower has 1,665 steps from the ground to the top, but visitors can only use 674 of them: 327 steps to the first floor, then 347 more to the second floor. The stairs from the second floor to the top are closed to the public for safety, so that last stretch is only reachable by elevator⁵.

When the tower opened on May 15, 1889, the stairs were the only way up; elevators did not start running until May 26, 1889⁵. A spiral staircase with 1,062 steps once continued from the second floor to the top, but it was never opened to the public because it was not considered safe. It was taken apart in 1983⁵.

Some athletes climb the whole 1,665 steps in an annual event called the “Vertical Race.” The men’s record belongs to Poland’s Piotr Łobodziński, in under 8 minutes, and the women’s record belongs to Australia’s Suzy Walsham, in under 10 minutes⁵.

Why does the tower keep changing color?

Iron rusts unless it is protected, so the tower has been repainted 20 times in its first 136 years, about once every 7 years⁶.

Its first color, applied at Eiffel’s workshop in 1887 and 1888, was a deep “Venetian red.” Since then it has been reddish-brown, ochre-brown, five shades of yellow, and a color called “Eiffel Tower Brown” that lasted from 1968 to 2019. The current, 20th painting campaign, finished for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, returned the tower to the yellow-brown shade Gustave Eiffel chose in 1907⁶.

Each full repainting uses about 60 tons of paint, spread over 250,000 square meters by around 50 painters who specialize in working at great heights. They still apply most of the paint by hand with a brush called a guipon, the same tool used in Eiffel’s own time⁶.

Visiting the Eiffel Tower

As of September 2026, a ticket to the top by elevator costs €36.70 for adults, €18.40 for ages 12 to 24, and €9.20 for children ages 4 to 11; children under 4 go free with a ticket booked in advance⁷. A ticket to the second floor by the stairs costs less than going all the way to the top by elevator⁷.

Parents can find full ticket options and the best times to go in the Eiffel Tower visitor guide, and can compare climbing with taking the lift in Eiffel Tower: Stairs or Elevator?

Is it true?

“The Eiffel Tower grows several inches taller in the summer heat.” This is a popular claim, but the official pages used for this article do not give a number for it, so this page does not repeat one. If a school project needs that figure, ask a teacher which reference to cite.

“Gustave Eiffel invented the tower’s shape all by himself.” Not quite. His engineers Koechlin and Nouguier came up with the idea, and architect Stephen Sauvestre gave it its final look⁴.

“You can climb the stairs all the way to the top.” No. The stairs only go as far as the second floor, which is 674 of the tower’s 1,665 steps. The rest of the climb is by elevator only⁵.

“Eiffel was born with the last name Eiffel.” No. He was born Alexandre Gustave Bonickhausen. His family had used “Eiffel” as a nickname for generations before he made it his legal name in 1880².

Quiz: How much do you remember?

For teachers and parents

Reading level is aimed at grades 4 to 6. All facts are sourced from the Eiffel Tower’s official website (Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel) and the City of Paris’s own website. To cite this page: Ellery, Margot. “Eiffel Tower Facts for Kids.” paristourist.info, updated September 19, 2026. For a primary source, cite the numbered pages below directly. More fact pages and printable sheets are listed at Paris School Project Help.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who built the Eiffel Tower?

It was built by Gustave Eiffel’s construction company for the 1889 World’s Fair, based on an idea by his engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, with the look designed by architect Stephen Sauvestre¹⁴.

How tall is the Eiffel Tower?

It is 1,083 feet (about 330 meters) tall, including its antennas¹.

Was the Eiffel Tower really almost torn down?

Yes. It had a 20-year permit and was supposed to be demolished around 1909. Gustave Eiffel saved it by showing it was useful for science and, later, for radio³.

How many steps does the Eiffel Tower have?

It has 1,665 steps from the ground to the top, but the public can only climb 674 of them, up to the second floor⁵.

How long did it take to build the Eiffel Tower?

2 years, 2 months and 5 days, from January 1887 to March 1889⁴.

Why is it called the Eiffel Tower if Eiffel didn't design it?

Gustave Eiffel’s company built it and he held the patent, even though his engineers Koechlin and Nouguier first came up with the design⁴⁸.

Can kids visit the Eiffel Tower for free?

Children under 4 get in free. Ages 4 to 11 pay a reduced child rate⁷.

How many people visit the Eiffel Tower each year?

Almost 7 million people a year, and close to 300 million since it opened in 1889¹.

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