Eiffel Tower in dire need of full repairs, not just paint job: Reports

PARIS • The Eiffel Tower is riddled with rust and in need of full repairs, but is instead being given a cosmetic €60 million (S$86.7 million) paint job ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, according to confidential reports cited by French magazine Marianne.

The wrought-iron 324m-high tower, built by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century, is among the most visited tourist sites in the world, welcoming about six million visitors each year.

However, confidential reports by experts cited by Marianne suggest the monument is in a poor state and riddled with rust.

"It is simple. If Gustave Eiffel visited the place, he would have a heart attack," one unnamed manager at the tower told Marianne.

The company that oversees the tower, Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), could not be reached for comment.

The tower is undergoing a repaint costing €60 million in preparation for the 2024 Olympics, the 20th time it has been repainted.

Some 30 per cent of the tower was supposed to have been stripped and then have two new coats of paint applied, but because of delays during the Covid-19 pandemic and the discovery of lead in the old paint, only 5 per cent of the structure will be treated, Marianne said.

SETE is reluctant to close the tower for a long time because of the tourist revenue that would be lost, it added.

Locally nicknamed "La dame de fer" ("Iron Lady" in French), the Eiffel Tower was constructed from 1887 to 1889 as a centrepiece of the 1889 World's Fair.

The global cultural icon is one of the planet's most recognisable structures and is the world's most visited monument with an entrance fee, with 6.91 million people ascending it in 2015.

REUTERS