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| The Eiffel Tower at dusk, photographed from Trocadero. |
The
Eiffel Tower was constructed for the 1889 World Fair. Today it's the
most visited paid entry monument in the world, with 7 million visitors
annually. But more or less everyone at the time it was constructed hated
it. It was derided as skeletal, as if it was just the framework for an
unfinished building. It was a 'skyscraper' in a low rise city. It was
metal, in a city built of white limestone. So unattractive that 'even
the Americans wouldn't stomach it'. It was so reviled that it took 70
years for permission for another skyscraper to be built to be granted.
That was the equally reviled Montparnasse Tower, which is still
considered a blot on the landscape. It does claim, with some
justification, to have the best views in Paris though.
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| The Eiffel Tower, from the other side of the Seine, in flood and threatening nearby houseboats. |
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| The
mid-20C Montparnasse Tower in the distance, photographed from the
Eiffel Tower. You can see why the Montparnasse Tower is not loved. |
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