From the 2nd to the 3rd floor, the carpenters of the sky make some prodigies and there was not only one deadly accident during the construction.
Works lasted 2 years, 2 months and 5 days. The first was finished April the 1st, 1888, the second August 14, 1888 and the third March 31, 1889.
2.500.000 rivets have been used to fasten 18.038 iron pieces.
Cost of the construction: 7.799.401, 31 francs of 1889, that is
142 millions of francs of 1994.
The monument was inaugurated March 31, 1889. That day, Gustave Eiffel climbs the 1.710 steps of the Eiffel Tower to plant to its summit the tricolour flag. In his ascension, he is followed by members of the Council of Paris, among them Mr. Chautemps, president of the City council of Paris. The Eiffel Tower is the highest building of the world until 1929, the date in which stands the Chrysler building (319 m) in New York.
Numbers for an epic
The four pillars of the Tower are plant in a square of 125 m of side and oriented according to the four cardinal points. Weight of the metallic framework: 7.300 tons. Total weight: 10.100 tons.