First-time visitors to the Eiffel Tower are surprised when they see this mass of steel curves, scrolls and other delicate ironwork. How could anyone make lace out of steel? French engineer Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel did, earning the title of “magician of iron” after the tower’s 1889 Parisian debut, reports Biography.com.

Eiffel — like blacksmiths and ironworkers centuries before him — knew that, behind its rock-hard exterior, wrought iron could be as beautiful as it was functional.