The Eiffel Tower was designed in 1884 by two engineers at Gustave Eiffel's company, Maurice Koechlin and Émile Nouguier, as a centrepiece for the 1889 Exposition Universelle, which marked the centenary of the French Revolution. Architect Stephen Sauvestre added decorative arches and a glass pavilion, and Eiffel bought the patent. A change to the 1886 competition rules made Eiffel's design effectively the only serious entry. The contract, signed in January 1887, gave Eiffel 1.5 million francs toward an estimated 6.5 million francs of costs, and he kept the commercial income for 20 years. The bank Crédit Industriel et Commercial helped finance construction using money from loans to Haiti, which required the young nation to pay its creditors nearly half of its export taxes.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.