Eiffel Tower's repairs

The 324-metre-tall, 7,300-ton iron Eiffel tower was built by Gustave Eiffel for   the1889 world’s fair to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution.

One hundred and thirty-three years on, the tower is still standing.

The tower receives about 6 million visitors in a typical year, making it the fourth most visited cultural site in France after Disneyland, the Louvre and the Palace of Versailles. Its Covid-enforced closure in 2020 led to a loss of €52m in income.

 Confidential reports suggest the monument is in a poor state and in need of a full repair. However, French authorities will only give it a cosmetic makeover for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

 The company that oversees the tower, Societe d'Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) which is 99%-owned by the city hall, is not planning to close the tower for a long time because of the tourist revenue that could be lost.

The repaint of only 5% of the tower will cost €60m

Experts predict the final result will be very poor. They say painting over old paint will make the corrosion worse.

A report in 2010 said: “SETE must take another look at the Eiffel Tower and come up with a completely new maintenance policy centered on the testing of the ageing metal structure.”

A second report in 2014 by Expiris, an expert paint company, found the tower had cracks and rusting and only 10% of the newer paint on the tower was adhering to the structure.

A third report in 2016 found 884 faults, including 68 that were a risk to “the durability” of the structure. Each of the faults was photographed, numbered and classified according to the degree of seriousness.

On the tower’s website, Bertrand Lemoine, an architect, engineer and historian, gives a more optimistic view. “If SETE repaints the Eiffel Tower, it will last forever”

From The Guardian (edited)