Why the Eiffel Tower was HATED! #travel #paris

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]One of my favorite stories about the Eiffel Tower is that many Parisians absolutely hated it when it was first built. When Gustave Eiffel proposed it for the 1889 World Fair, Paris's most prominent artists and intellectuals signed a petition and called it an eyesore. They described it as a metal asparagus, a blot on the city's soul.

[00:00:19]There's an anecdote about a French writer who apparently ate lunch inside the tower every single day, not because he loved it, but because it was the one place in Paris where he couldn't see it.

[00:00:30]The Eiffel Tower was also never meant to be permanent. It had a 20-year permit and it was supposed to be torn down.

[00:00:36]What saved it was a radio antenna. The French military started using it for wireless transmissions and suddenly this architectural disaster had a purpose.

[00:00:45]Today, it's the most visited paid monument in the world. Honestly, the Eiffel Tower had one of the best PR recovery stories of all time.