Today in History - 1889

The Eiffel Tower was inaugurated on this day after two years of construction. It served as the entrance arch for the Exposition Universelle, a World's Fair, marking the centennial celebration of the French Revolution. Eiffel originally planned to build it in Barcelona, for the Universal Exposition of 1888, but those responsible at the Barcelona city hall thought it was a strange construction, and expensive, which did not fit into the city. After the refusal of the Consistory of Barcelona, Eiffel submitted his draft to those responsible for the Universal Exhibition in Paris, where he would build a year later, in 1889.