How the World’s Fair Changed Paris

The World’s Fair began in 1851 in London as a way for different countries to showcase their industrial feats and pique the interest of potential buyers for their goods or investors in their businesses. While it features a mix of art styles, mediums, cultural objects, and more, the architecture is what stands out the most from every fair. Countries will quickly build structures and buildings for the World’s Fair with the express intention of tearing them down when the exposition is over. Over the years, many of these temporary architectural showcases have withstood the test of time. 

Perhaps the most famous example of a successful build is the Eiffel tower in Paris, France. The Eiffel tower was built in just two years between 1887 and 1889 for the 1889 World’s Fair, which is not only record speed but also record height. The thousand feet tall iron tower was meant to stand for twenty years and be torn down in 1909 but Gustave Eiffel, the engineer that pitched the design, advocated for it to stay. He added meteorological equipment to the top and allowed for experiments that gave the tower function over just monumentality. The decision to not tear down the tower is one of the most consequential choices that has been made in France. It defined the city and its urban growth as well as encouraged tourism that cemented Paris on the map. Today it is a reminder of a time past when the industrial revolution was underway and metalworking was emerging at the forefront of engineering. 

Works Cited

The Birth of the Eiffel Tower – Official Eiffel Tower Website.” La Tour Eiffel, www.toureiffel.paris/en/the-monument/history. Accessed 9 Sept. 2026.

Findling, John. “World’s Fair | History, Instances, & Facts | Britannica.” Brittanica, 2009, www.britannica.com/topic/worlds-fair.

“The Start of Something Big: Constructing the Eiffel Tower.” Hagley, 23 Jan. 2023, www.hagley.org/librarynews/start-something-big-constructing-eiffel-tower.