Answer: Red

The Eiffel Tower is the tallest structure in Paris, an internationally recognized symbol of both its host city and the country of France, and composed of approximately 7,300 tons of wrought iron.

That last little detail is critical to the subject of today’s trivia: paint. If you’re going to build a 1,063 foot tall structure composed entirely of wrought iron, you’re committing yourself to thoroughly painting that structure to keep rust and corrosion at bay. Originally, the Tower was painted red (tinted with brown), then shifted to yellow-ochre, chestnut brown, and then finally the bronze gradient it is today (the color shifts subtly from the ground to the top of the Tower to make it appear consistent to viewers on the ground).

The Eiffel Tower is repainted every seven years and soaks up a remarkable amount of supplies in the process: 60 tons of paint, 5000 sanding disks, 1500 brushes, five acres worth of safety netting, and 31 miles of security cords. The repainting process takes approximately 18 months and the Tower is kept open to the public.