<P> Some of the protesters changed their minds when the tower was built; others remained unconvinced . Guy de Maupassant supposedly ate lunch in the tower's restaurant every day because it was the one place in Paris where the tower was not visible . </P> <P> By 1918, it had become a symbol of Paris and of France after Guillaume Apollinaire wrote a nationalist poem in the shape of the tower (a calligram) to express his feelings about the war against Germany . Today, it is widely considered to be a remarkable piece of structural art, and is often featured in films and literature . </P> <P> Work on the foundations started on 28 January 1887 . Those for the east and south legs were straightforward, with each leg resting on four 2 m (6.6 ft) concrete slabs, one for each of the principal girders of each leg . The west and north legs, being closer to the river Seine, were more complicated: each slab needed two piles installed by using compressed - air caissons 15 m (49 ft) long and 6 m (20 ft) in diameter driven to a depth of 22 m (72 ft) to support the concrete slabs, which were 6 m (20 ft) thick . Each of these slabs supported a block of limestone with an inclined top to bear a supporting shoe for the ironwork . </P> <P> Each shoe was anchored to the stonework by a pair of bolts 10 cm (4 in) in diameter and 7.5 m (25 ft) long . The foundations were completed on 30 June, and the erection of the ironwork began . The visible work on - site was complemented by the enormous amount of exacting preparatory work that took place behind the scenes: the drawing office produced 1,700 general drawings and 3,629 detailed drawings of the 18,038 different parts needed . The task of drawing the components was complicated by the complex angles involved in the design and the degree of precision required: the position of rivet holes was specified to within 0.1 mm (0.0039 in) and angles worked out to one second of arc . The finished components, some already riveted together into sub-assemblies, arrived on horse - drawn carts from a factory in the nearby Parisian suburb of Levallois - Perret and were first bolted together, with the bolts being replaced with rivets as construction progressed . No drilling or shaping was done on site: if any part did not fit, it was sent back to the factory for alteration . In all, 18,038 pieces were joined together using 2.5 million rivets . </P>

When did the construction of the eiffel tower start and end