This Surprising City Is The Original Home To The Eiffel Tower

With an average of around 25,000 queuing to climb its stairs each day, the Eiffel Tower is one of the most popular paid monuments in the world. If today the tower is one of the most iconic Parisian symbols of all time, rumour has it that the tower was nearly built in an entirely different place.

A temporary installation

So how did one of the world’s most famous landmarks come into being in the first place? The Eiffel Tower was built in time for the 1889 World Fair or Exposition Universelle which took place in Paris. It may be hard to believe these days but the tower was originally conceived as a temporary exhibit which would be taken down some time after the fair.

Although the tower gets its name from the engineer, Gustave Eiffel, who owned the company who designed the tower, it was actually two other engineers – Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier – who played the biggest part in its design. In fact, Eiffel apparently was rather unenthusiastic about the plans the first time he saw them.

If these days the Eiffel Tower has become synonymous with the French capital, as much a part of its identity as the Seine river, a persistent rumour suggests that the tower nearly didn’t get built in Paris at all. Rather, some have suggested that the Eiffel Tower was almost built some 1,000km away in the Spanish city of Barcelona.

According to the rumour, Eiffel and his company pitched the designs for the tower to the Catalan capital before the Parisian World Fair of 1889. In fact, Barcelona hosted its own version of the World Fair the year before, in 1888, called the Universal Exposition of Barcelona.

It’s hard to imagine anyone turning down the Eiffel Tower

However, according to those who support the theory, the local authorities in Barcelona turned down the proposal, worrying that it would be an unsightly addition to the landscape that would prove unpopular with locals.

A costly decision

If the rumour is true – there’s no official documentation to support the theory despite its ongoing popularity – then this would certainly have been a costly mistake for the city of Barcelona. The Eiffel Tower is currently valued at around 400 billion dollars and is one of the world’s most visited paid monuments: in 2015, nearly 7 million people visited the landmark.

Thankfully Barcelona has its own share of popular monuments, such as the Sagrada Família: the astounding church designed by Antoni Gaudí, which attracts some 3 million visitors a year. In fact, the city’s architecture is one of the main reasons people visit the city: from its Modernist marvels to the historic buildings of the Gothic Quarter.

The Sagrada Família is part of Barcelona’s landscape

It’s hard to imagine the Eiffel Tower anywhere else than Paris, so symbolic of the city and everything it stands for has the monument become. And yet, if the rumours are true, the Iron Lady may well not have been Parisian at all. Which begs the question: would the Eiffel Tower really have become the iconic landmark it is today if it had been built anywhere but Paris?

Since you are here, we would like to share our vision for the future of travel - and the direction Culture Trip is moving in.

Culture Trip launched in 2011 with a simple yet passionate mission: to inspire people to go beyond their boundaries and experience what makes a place, its people and its culture special and meaningful — and this is still in our DNA today. We are proud that, for more than a decade, millions like you have trusted our award-winning recommendations by people who deeply understand what makes certain places and communities so special.

Increasingly we believe the world needs more meaningful, real-life connections between curious travellers keen to explore the world in a more responsible way. That is why we have intensively curated a collection of premium small-group trips as an invitation to meet and connect with new, like-minded people for once-in-a-lifetime experiences in three categories: Culture Trips, Rail Trips and Private Trips. Our Trips are suitable for both solo travelers, couples and friends who want to explore the world together.

Culture Trips are deeply immersive 5 to 16 days itineraries, that combine authentic local experiences, exciting activities and 4-5* accommodation to look forward to at the end of each day. Our Rail Trips are our most planet-friendly itineraries that invite you to take the scenic route, relax whilst getting under the skin of a destination. Our Private Trips are fully tailored itineraries, curated by our Travel Experts specifically for you, your friends or your family.

We know that many of you worry about the environmental impact of travel and are looking for ways of expanding horizons in ways that do minimal harm - and may even bring benefits. We are committed to go as far as possible in curating our trips with care for the planet. That is why all of our trips are flightless in destination, fully carbon offset - and we have ambitious plans to be net zero in the very near future.