Tourists line up at the Eiffel Tower. Around 6 million people visit the tower every quarter of a year. But what they may not see is that the tower is in very poor condition. It is full of rust, according to a classified report that the French magazine “Marianne” mentions. The news agency Reuters reports this. The tower needs full overhaul, according to the report. The Eiffel Tower was built for the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889. The job took only 21 months. The 324 meter high tower (including antenna on top) is built of wrought iron, and was designed by the French engineer Gustave Eiffel. It was the tallest building in the world until 1930. The Eiffel Tower was opened on May 15, 1889. In 2019, 130 years later, the anniversary was celebrated with lights and colors. Photo: Christophe Ena / AP – Would have had a heart attack – Had Gustave Eiffel visited the city now, he would have had a heart attack, says an unnamed leader in the tower of «Marianne». The company responsible for the operation of the Eiffel Tower, Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, has not commented on the report. But in general, the company tries to avoid closure because it will severely affect tourist revenues. View from the Eiffel Tower. Photo: Thibault Camus / AP New goals for the Olympics There will not be a full repair of the tower this time, but a new stroke with measurement will be given. The price tag is just over 600 million kroner, and this is the 20th time the tower will appear as a new paint. The refurbishment is part of the preparations for the 33rd Olympic Summer Games, which will be held in Paris in the period July 26 to August 11, 2024. Experts say to “Marianne” that this will only be a cosmetic facelift, and they fear that the end result will be small to brag about. The Eiffel Tower reopened on July 16, 2021 after being closed for nine months due to the corona pandemic. It was the longest period of closed towers since World War II. Photo: Lewis Joly / AP Worsening problem They believe that measuring over old measurement will only make the rust damage worse. According to the newspaper The Guardian, several reports, dating back to 2010, have pointed to the need for more thorough measures to avoid rust. A report from 2014, prepared by the company Expiris, showed that the tower had cracks of rust, and that only 10 percent of the newer measurement adhered to the structure. The artwork “Earth Crisis” by American Shepard Fairey hung in the Eiffel Tower during the climate summit in Paris in 2015. Photo: CHARLES PLATIAU / Reuters The leader of Expiris, Bernard Giovannoni, says the following to “Marianne”: – I have worked with the tower for several years. In 2014, I considered that it is urgent to deal with rust problems. My recommendation was to grind down all the measurement, and measure the tower again. But another expert says that the original layers of measurement are solid. While experts and most people continue the discussions, it is at least clear that there will be a new measurement on the tower for the Olympics.
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