What's the Eiffel Tower Brand Worth?

We shared an interesting infographic a few weeks ago, which showed the worth of top brands. Apple headed the list with an impressive valuation of $183 billion. But's that's nothing. According to a recent study of the brand value of European monuments, the Eiffel Tower has this easily beat, with a value of $545 billion. Skeptical? After all, the Tower is essentially just a rusty pile of 19th-century iron, and was supposed to be dismantled after its role in the 1889 World's Fair came to an end.

But not only is it still standing, it remains the most-visited paid monument in the world, with more than 7.1 million people ascending it via stairs or elevators in 2011. And, of course, beyond being a destination, there can be no movie about France without a shot of the Eiffel Tower. Just flip through a fashion magazine and count how many towers you spot to see just how closely France and the Eiffel Tower are inextricably linked. Then ponder the fact that while tourism across France has recently experienced a small decline, visits to Paris itself have actually increased 1.5% over last year. The city's secret weapon? The Eiffel Tower, of course.

The valuation was created for a study commissioned by an Italian chamber of commerce, which was seeking to establish the value of Italian monuments and events, in comparison to their European counterparts. It used a variety of government statistics, as well as factoring in socioeconomic, cultural and touristic factors before arriving at the valuations. In the end, Italy had to settle for a distant second place, with Rome's Colosseum being valued at just $114 billion. Below are the monuments in the study and their valuations. All images courtesy Wikipedia.