If you’ve ever been to Paris, then, The Eiffel Tower was one of the sceneries that left an impression on your mind. The tower was erected as a temporary World’s Fair exhibit back in the late 19th century, and was destined to be dismantled. Ever since, it became useful for transmitting telegraphs as the industrial revolution grew, and has become a permanent fixture in the Paris skyline. But if you’re in love with the tower, you can literally own a piece of it for yourself.
Related media: Why Was The Eiffel Tower Built?
I’m In Love, I Feel A Tower
The Eiffel Tower since it’s construction has seen a lot of renovations. For instance, the wrought-iron spiral staircase that originally connected the tower’s second and third floors, was removed back in the 1980s to make room for an elevator. And ever since, segments of the staircase have been sold to venues around the world. A 24-step stairway was up for auction at Parisian auction house Artcurial in November 2018. Like we said, you can own your share of the Eiffel Tower.
If you plan on buying a section of the tower, you better be damn rich. The auction sales are around at least €40,000 in the Eurozone market, or US$45,000 — that’s were the bidding even started. The auction house estimated that it won’t go past €80,000, but you never know. The staircase was finally auctioned off for a whopping … . But its not only about people wanting to own parts of the tower that’s intriguing. People love the Eiffel Tower — so much so that a woman literally married it in 2008. Huh?
This staircase isn’t even the well known feature of the tower, but it still has some serious cachet to it’s reputation. In previous years, segments of the staircase were auctioned off to private collectors and other institutions all around the world. In the United States alone, there’s a section of the staircase at Disneyland, and another one near the Statue of Liberty.
(Fun fact: Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed the tower, actually designed parts of the Statue of Liberty).
Eiffel Tower Evolution
However, if you didn’t get the chance to buy that particular staircase, its probably not your last chance to buy a slice of the original Eiffel Tower. Though the tower itself will never go up for sale, yet it’s gradually changing, piece by piece, staircase by staircase, evolving substantially. It started out as a temporary feature, but has wandered into permanence. It has also changed colors multiple times. That’s no wonder, the tower stands at a height of roughly 300 meters (1,000 feet) tall.
Once upon a time in the history of the Eiffel Tower, it functioned as a giant advertising billboard — let’s say bill-tower. In 1925, glowing 100-foot-high letters were installed down the face of the tower, vertically spelling “CITROËN,” a French automobile company. These letters transformed the Eiffel Tower into a “bill-tower,” more or less, and stayed up for more than a decade.
I Feel The Changes
As the story continues, the Eiffel Tower continues to change today. Currently, the city began a project to renovate and modernize the tower in 2017, as part of preparations towards the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics and Paralympics games. Though engineers will preserve some of Eiffel’s original touches — if they do not, could we still call it the Eiffel Tower? The entire second floor of the tower has been remodeled already, and there are even plans to make other major changes to security, lighting, and other features.
If you don’t want to buy a staircase, it seems you’ll be able to buy plenty of other original fixtures soon enough — you can own a bolt and nut, if you wish. However, if you think buying a “piece” of the Eiffel Tower makes you feel squeamish, note that people even buy and sell chunks of the Berlin wall all the time — like seriously — and the universe makes itself available in the form of meteorites that’s a serious cachet for scientists. But as for the Eiffel Tower, it’s magnificent view is just not enough for people.
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Written by: Nana Kwadwo, Thu, Feb 07, 2019.
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