The original was built by French engineer Gustave Eiffel for the World Fair in Paris in 1889. At 320 m in height the tower was the tallest artificial structure in the world until 1930 and inconceivably high for the period, only made possible because iron was used for the construction. The original plan had been to dismantle the Eiffel Tower after twenty years. However, it was the ideal location for transmitter stations for the first transatlantic radio link and it also proved to be a considerable source of income (1.9 million visitors in the year 1889), so that it was decided to let it stand. Throughout its service life, the Eiffel Tower has been re-painted 17 times, i.e. once every seven years on average, and the colour has been changed several times. At the moment it is of a bronze shade. It takes 25 painters one year to paint the tower; they use 16 tons of paint and 1500 brushes to accomplish their feat. The first model of the Eiffel Tower in Minimundus (1962) was built on a scale of 1:50 due to its enormous height, but as visitors constantly requested it, a second model was built in 1967 with the usual scale of 1:25. Until May 1998 it was the tallest model in the “miniature world” at 12.80 m. Now, next to the tall Eiffel Tower, there is a model of the CN Tower in Toronto, which is even higher at 22.20 m, rising almost 10 m above the Eiffel Tower.
