A tale of 2 monuments

In 1889, 135 years ago, to great fanfare, there was the “unveiling” (so to speak) of a very, very tall structure. In fact, at the time it was the tallest man-made object in the world. It was the Eiffel Tower, a magnificent monument to engineering. To this day, it is a landmark that defines Paris.

I’ve been there a few times. The view of the city from the top is terrific. But one shocking factoid about this steel structure is that the original purpose of its creation was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the French Revolution.