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4/26/2026
The Eiffel Tower staircase
The Eiffel tower opened in
1889, during the Universal Exposition, a fair celebrating the 100th
anniversary of the French Revolution. In 1983, they renovated the Tower: they
removed some parts of the staircase and elevators replaced them.
Eiffel Tower officials sold 20 of these
parts in 1983. Most are still with their first owners. Other parts
can be seen in museums in Paris, in eastern France, in Japan,
and near the Statue of Liberty.
Artcurial’s Art Deco department in
Paris will sell a 14-step section of the historic staircase next
month.
It connected the second and third
floors. It is 2.75 meters high and 1.75 meters wide. Buyers
will need a lot of money — and a big house — to keep it. Experts say it
will cost between $140,000 and $175,000.
Artcurial associate director said the
staircase section is “more than just a piece of history. It’s an immersive
experience, a trip through time and space. Imagine yourself in 1889 on this
staircase, between 113 and 276 meters high, with no safety barriers, but with a
360-degree view of Paris.”
Artcurial sold other sections before. The
record sale was section 13, which was in very good conditions – like the one
they are offering now. A Chinese unidentified collector bought it for about
$612,000 in 2016.
From ScrippNews (edited)
Man wins Picasso painting
A man has won a
painting by Pablo Picasso, worth about $1.2
million.
The winner is Ari
Hodara. He is an engineer and he likes art. He found out he won when he
answered a video call from Christie's in Paris.
At first, he did
not believe it. He asked, “How do I know this is not a joke?”
People bought
more than 120,000 tickets for the raffle. Each ticket cost about $120. In total, they raised about $13 million for Alzheimer’s research.
This fund raising
raffle is called “1 Picasso for 100 euros.” It started in 2013.
The prize this
year was a painting called Tête de Femme (“Head of a Woman”). It shows Dora
Maar, who was Picasso’s partner and also an artist.
Hodara, the
winner, said, “I was surprised. When you buy a ticket, you don’t expect to win.
But I am very happy because I love painting.”
His ticket number was 94,715. He bought it over the weekend after learning about the competition by chance.
French journalist Peri Cochin organized the raffle with help from Picasso’s family and foundation.
Although the
tickets were sold in dozens of countries worldwide, she said it was great that
the winner lives in Paris because it will be easy to give him the painting.
Paris is also the
city where Picasso lived and worked for many years.
From the money
raised, about $1.2 million will
go to the Opera Gallery that owned the painting. The rest will go to France's Alzheimer's
Research Foundation.
The first edition
of the raffle was in 2013. A 25-year old American man from the U.S. won, and the money helped
protect the Lebanese city of Tyre - a
Unesco World Heritage Site.
A 58-year-old Italian accountant won the second edition, in 2020, after
her son bought her a ticket for Christmas. Proceeds were donated to sanitation
projects in schools and villages in Cameroon, Madagascar and Morocco.
From BBC (edited)
4/17/2026
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