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126th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower: Google celebrates with a doodle

By FnF Desk | PUBLISHED: 31, Mar 2015, 12:11 pm IST | UPDATED: 31, Mar 2015, 12:11 pm IST

126th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower: Google celebrates with a doodle New Delhi: Google on Tuesday celebrated the 126th anniversary of the public opening of the Eiffel Tower with a doodle on its homepage.

The doodle, by illustrator Floriane Marchix and which is in cartoon form, shows cheery workers giving final touches to the iconic structure.

The Eiffel Tower, one of the world's wonders, is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.

The tower was first opened to public by French premier Pierre Tirard on 31 March 1889. On that day, Gustave Eiffel climbed its 1,710 steps to plant the French flag at its peak.

The tower is the most-visited paid monument in the world. In 2010, it received its 250 millionth visitor.

The Eiffel tower, which is of 324 metres (1,062-foot) tall, is an iron lattice, located on the Champ de Mars in Paris.


In honour of the Eiffel Tower, here are six things you didn't know about it.

It's named after its engineer

Opened by French premier Pierre Tirard on 31 March 1889, the Eiffel Tower is named after civil engineer Gustave Eiffel. The feat of turning architect Stephen Sauvestre's vision into reality earned Eiffel the nickname "the magician of iron".

It's almost as tall as the Shard, which is the tallest building in the EU

The Eiffel Tower stands at 300m (984ft) high (324m if you include its antennae), while the Shard is 306m tall (1,004ft) in its entirety.

It doesn't like the cold

When it gets cold, the Tower shrinks by about six inches.

It was the tallest man-made structure in the world for 41 years

The Chrysler Building in New York claimed its place in 1930. But it continued to be the tallest structure in France until the military transmitter in the town of Saissac was erected in 1973.

It is the most visited ticketed monument in the world

As many as 7 million people visit the Eiffel Tower a year, and almost 250 million people have visited the tower since it opened.

It was built to celebrate revolution

The Eiffel Tower may be a symbol of romance, but it was built as the main exhibit at the 1889 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair), which was held to mark the centennial of the French Revolution in 1789.