Paris Hated This Tower

300 metres of iron, 18,038 pieces, 2.5 million rivets, and no power tools. So how did builders in the 1880s put up the Eiffel Tower in two years, two months and five days? And how did a tower Paris hated, with a permit for only 20 years, survive? The answer is a giant kit designed on paper, red-hot rivets, sand boxes and jacks, a shape set by the wind, and radio. Chapters 0:00 How was it built so fast? 0:34 Whose idea was it? 0:58 Paris hated it 1:18 Into the wet ground 1:40 The real trick: a giant kit 2:04 Bolts, then red-hot rivets 2:27 Leaning legs and climbing cranes 2:43 The hardest moment 3:12 Watch it grow 3:29 Shaped by the wind 3:58 It moves with the weather 4:10 Tallest in the world, for 20 years 4:26 How radio saved it 5:02 What this leaves out 5:23 Your turn Key sources Société d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (toureiffel.paris): history, key figures, "How did they build the Tower so quickly?", "Is the Eiffel Tower mounted on cylinders?", painting, the tower and science. Weidman, P. & Pinelis, I. (2004), "Model equations for the Eiffel Tower profile", Comptes Rendus Mécanique 332(7):571-584. ASCE, Historic Civil Engineering Landmark: Eiffel Tower. French Ministry of the Armed Forces, Chemins de mémoire: Gustave Ferrié. Image credits (all public domain or CC0, via Wikimedia Commons) Louis-Émile Durandelle, J. Paul Getty Museum: placing the caissons (Apr 1887); masonry of a pier (1887); state of construction (23 Nov 1888). Théophile Féau, Paris Musées / Musée Carnavalet (CC0): the legs rising (1887); the second level (Aug and Sep 1888); the tower on 31 Mar 1889. Théophile Féau: six progress photos from the same spot, Oct 1887 to Dec 1888. Atelier Nadar: Gustave Eiffel (1888). Carl Larsson: The Eiffel Tower under construction (1888). Alphonse Liébert, Library of Congress: aerial view of the 1889 Exposition. Library of Congress: the tower at the 1889 Exposition. Detroit Publishing Co., Library of Congress: two photochroms of the tower (c. 1890-1905). Rijksmuseum (CC0): Souvenir de la Tour Eiffel album (1889). Anonymous, 1914: drawing of the tower's radio antenna (label removed). No endorsement by the Library of Congress, Paris Musées or the Rijksmuseum is implied. The narration voice is AI-generated. If your city had to build something this famous today, what would you want it to be? Tell me in the comments. #eiffeltower #paris #engineering