Stil jete

The Eiffel Tower is rusting!

The Eiffel Tower is rusting!

When it was completed in 1889, the Eiffel Tower – the Iron Lady of Paris – was expected to stand for 20 years before being dismantled. One hundred and thirty-three years later, the tower is still there.

Now, however, confidential reports published in the French magazine Marianne suggest that the monument is rusting and in urgent need of repair.

"If Gustave Eiffel visited the place, he would have a heart attack," a Tower employee told Marianne.

The Eiffel Tower is rusting!

Eiffel, the civil engineer whose company designed and built the monument, said identifying and stopping the spread of rust was the biggest challenge to the building's longevity and suggested it would need painting every seven years.

The tower is undergoing a €60 million repainting in preparation for the 2024 Olympics, the 20th time the monument has been repainted. A third of the tower was supposed to be 'striped' of paint and then two new coats applied. But apparently, only 5% of the claims will be treated.

The company that oversees the tower, Sete, which is 99% owned by the municipality, is reluctant to close it for an extended period because of the tourism revenue that would be lost. The tower receives around 6 million visitors a year, making it the fourth most visited cultural site in France after Disneyland, the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles. Its Covid-forced closure in 2020 led to a loss of €52 million in revenue.