What Makes the Eiffel Tower an Iconic Symbol of Paris?

[watermelonisnice]

Why is the Eiffel Tower a popular tourist destination in Paris, is it a unique structure? I want to know everyone's opinion.

 

[f95toli]

Because it is a massive tower in the middle of Paris...
It is not actually that tall or big by modern standards (there are taller skyscrapers), but keep in mind that it is ~150 years old and back then it must have been incredible.
Also, it IS very impressive if you are there in person; it is hard to get the sense of scale when you just see it on photos or TV...it is very, very big and tall.

 

[russ_watters]

Why is the Eiffel Tower a popular tourist destination in Paris, is it a unique structure? I want to know everyone's opinion.

I'm not sure this is a matter of opinion, but rather a matter of history. It was built for the World's Fair - it is, by design, a tourist attraction.

 

[PeroK]

It's not unique, as there is also the Blackpool Tower:

 

[russ_watters]

It's not unique, as there is also the Blackpool Tower:

View attachment 280718

I wouldn't mistake that for the Eiffel Tower.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Is nobody amazed that this has stood for almost a century and a half and was made by the same people who gave us Peugeot?

 

[256bits]

Same people who made the Statue of Liberty I think.

 

[Baluncore]

It is the curve of the Eiffel Tower structure that attracts the positive attention.
The same is true in Sydney with the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House,
or a suspension bridge like the Golden Gate.
The Gherkin in London will be admired, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/30_St_Mary_Axe
but the Shard will not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shard

 

[Vanadium 50]

Same people who made the Statue of Liberty I think.

Literally. While Bartholdi was the artist, the engineer who made sure it didn't fall down was a fellow named Gustave Eiffel.

 

[Vanadium 50]

but the Shard will not. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shard

You mean it's supposed to look like that? Oh. My.

I guess it's true. Doctors bury their mistakes, but all an architect can do is plant ivy.

 

[Klystron]

When the Tower was built some serious (and numerous kooky) people sought to tap into "geomantic currents" thought to be swirling within the Earth. Similar factions thought Le Tour and the Paris underground construction either sought, relied upon or disturbed said currents.

Electromagnetics was poorly understood then. Also see dowsing.

Italian semiotics professor Umberto Eco explores this aspect of Eiffel Tower fame in his history textbooks and novel "Foucault's Pendulum".

 

[DennisN]

It is not actually that tall or big by modern standards (there are taller skyscrapers), but keep in mind that it is ~150 years old and back then it must have been incredible.

I think so too.

Also, it IS very impressive if you are there in person; it is hard to get the sense of scale when you just see it on photos or TV...it is very, very big and tall.

I agree. When you are there in person it is huge. Just being under the tower is a dizzying feeling.
Here is a panoramic view from underneath the tower on Google Maps.

 

[Lnewqban]

Why is the Eiffel Tower a popular tourist destination in Paris, is it a unique structure? I want to know everyone's opinion.

The difficulties of its construction and handling of steel pieces and rivets at that extreme height, as well as the challenges of elevators for construction materials and later for passengers, have always amazed me.

Please, see:
Eiffel Tower - Wikipedia

Elevator Systems of the Eiffel Tower, 1889, Robert M. Vogel (scientificlib.com)

 

[Vanadium 50]

It was almost 40 years before a larger structure (the Chrysler Building in NYC) was constructed. But Paris is not a very "tall" city - in that respect it is more like Washington DC than New York. This is especially so in the 7th and 16th arrondissements around the tower. So it looks even bigger in context.

 

[Baluncore]

According to the French Standards of the day, the original long-wave time signals broadcast from the Eiffel Tower were not Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), they were actually “delayed Paris Time”, delayed by about 9 minutes and 21 seconds.

The subconscious plays an interesting role in history. The Statue of Liberty was certainly an excellent investment, it has now helped liberate the French twice. It seems the Eiffel Tower was so attractive that it resulted in a little unpleasantness, mainly between 1914-18 and 1939-45.
Since the Fernsehturm was built in Berlin, the attractive forces have been better balanced. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fernsehturm_Berlin