Despite a leaked report that stated the Eiffel Tower is “riddled with corrosion and urgently needs repair,” workers have been seen painting it ahead of the 2024 Olympic games in Paris.
The landmark tower has been in a “highly degraded state,” according to many private reports reviewed by the French magazine Marianne since 2010, with maintenance issues and the extent of the damage being kept a secret.
An unnamed manager who works at the site bemoaned that the tower is currently undergoing a repaint project that began as early as 2018 with the forthcoming 2024 Olympic Games in mind, but is just insufficient for the task that has to be done.
It’s really quite easy; if Gustave Eiffel had been there, he would have passed out. Although it is not expected to fall in the morning of tomorrow, it is true that it is not at all well.
“In some areas, rust has won and is eating away at the iron of the monument like termites at wood,” it was written 133 years after it was built.
Insiders in France are now concerned that their most famous landmark, which was built in 1889 and receives 6 million tourists annually, could experience a catastrophe such to the one that struck Notre Dame in 2019 when its roof caught fire and burnt for 15 hours.
Another unnamed expert said, “In an emergency, in areas, a simple coat of paint is only put on the existing layers, which are flaking and do not stick.”
The tower has undergone 20 paint jobs in its 133-year history, with the current one costing French taxpayers £51 million.
Approximately 30% of the monument was intended to be removed, and two fresh coats would have been applied, but due to delays brought on by the Covid epidemic and the presence of lead in the previous paint, just 5% of the building will now receive treatment.
The Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE), which is in charge of the tower, is apprehensive about losing out on tourist dollars by closing the tower while repairs are being made, according to Marianne.
Built by Gustave Eiffel in the late 19th century, the “Iron Lady,” as it is known locally, stood 1,083 feet (330 meters) tall for a period before being surpassed by the Chrysler Building in New York City in 1930.
The Eiffel Tower was made 17 feet taller than the Chrysler Building by the addition of a broadcasting antenna to its top, not content to be outdone by the Chrysler and its American manufacturers (5.2 metres).