The Eiffel Tower is to undergo a €300m, 15-year refurbishment, Paris’s mayor Anne Hidalgo announced on Friday.
The landmark, which receives more paying tourists—around seven million a year—than any other monument in the world, was built as the centerpiece of the 1889 Universal Exposition. The planned refurbishment is intended to bolster the French capital’s bids to host another World’s Fair in 2025 and, before that, the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic games, according to a statement from the mayor’s office.
The investment includes modernising the lifts and the viewing gallery on the lower second floor; improved access facilities; strengthened security; a complete repainting of the 1,000-foot-high, 10,000-ton iron-girder edifice; and a reworking of the sparkling light show that illuminates the tower for five minutes every hour through the night.
“The plan aims to create new reception spaces and improved visitor flow management to reduce or eliminate waiting lines all the way up the tower,” the deputy mayor Jean-François Martins said in the statement. The project will be managed by the tower’s operator, the Société d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel, a public service company wholly owned by the City Council.
