---
title: "Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty?"
description: "the Eiffel Tower vs the Statue of Liberty: the Statue of Liberty came first, by 3 years — 1886 against 1889. What happened in each case."
url: https://atoneplace.net/which-came-first/eiffel-tower-vs-statue-of-liberty/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty?

**Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty?: the Statue of Liberty**

1886 — 3 years before the Eiffel Tower

the Statue of Liberty came first, by 3 years. The statue was dedicated in New York Harbor.

## Side by side

|  | the Eiffel Tower | the Statue of Liberty |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Year | 1889 | 1886 |
| Date | 1889-03-31 | 1886-10-28 |
| Category | landmark | landmark |
| What happened | The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle. | The statue was dedicated in New York Harbor. |

## the Eiffel Tower

Built for the 1889 World's Fair and intended to be dismantled after twenty years, the Eiffel Tower survived because it turned out to be useful as a radio antenna. It was the tallest structure in the world until the Chrysler Building in 1930. It opened in the same year Nintendo was founded, and two and a half years after the Statue of Liberty it is often assumed to predate.

## the Statue of Liberty

Dedicated in October 1886, the statue predates the Eiffel Tower by two and a half years — and its internal iron framework was designed by Gustave Eiffel, who went on to use what he learned on the tower. It arrived from France in 214 crates and the American side had to raise the money for the pedestal by public subscription, which nearly failed. The copper skin is about 2.4 mm thick, roughly the thickness of two pennies.

## Common questions

### Which came first, the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty?

the Statue of Liberty, by 3 years — 1886 against 1889.

### When did the Eiffel Tower start?

1889. The tower opened for the Paris Exposition Universelle.

### When did the Statue of Liberty start?

1886. The statue was dedicated in New York Harbor.

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## Sources

- Wikidata — Wikimedia Foundation (https://www.wikidata.org/) [CC0 1.0]