1It was built partly to massage Frances (badly wounded) national pride

In 1889 the World Fair was organized which became a sort of coming out party for the “new and improved” Paris.

The Eiffel tower was conceived of as a sort of tiara for the exhibition grounds. It would show off the technological advances and design prowess of France while also functioning as an old-fashioned Napoleonic symbol of greatness. It would make France, as its architect, Gustave Eiffel said, “the only country with a 300-meter flagpole.”

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