Rust afflicts the ‘Iron Lady’
DOOMED: ICONIC MONUMENT IS CORRODING AND NEEDS BIG MONEY FOR MAINTENANCE
Paris mayor and culture minister at loggerheads about the issue.
The Eiffel Tower, attacked by rust and well behind on its maintenance schedule, has taken centre stage in a power struggle between the Paris mayor and the French minister of culture.
A five-day strike at the Eiffel Tower this month drew attention to the monument’s bad state of repair. Unions said the iconic monument was doomed unless its owner, the city of Paris, made a massive amount of funds available to get it back into good nick.
The tower’s creator, Gustave Eiffel, recommended at the time of its inauguration in 1889 that it should be painted every seven years to keep the inevitable rust at bay.
But the iron structure, which is 330m tall when the high-frequency antenna at the top is included, has not been given a full paint job since 2010.
Unions said during the strike there were “several corrosion points... visible”, which were “signs of a worrying deteriorating of the monument”.
Local associations have warned of “safety problems” if the rust is left unchecked.
The protests prompted France’s recently appointed right-wing Culture Minister Rachida Dati to weigh in.
She said left-wing Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo should ask for the Eiffel Tower to be given “historical monument” status.
Unusually for such a high-profile site, it does not already have that protection.
The classification, Dati said on social media platform X, would give the French government the power to override the city of Paris and “undertake construction work, by force if necessary”.
“The Eiffel Tower is not sufficiently protected,” she said.
Dati recently confirmed she wants to run for Paris mayor in 2026, having failed to dislodge Hidalgo in the 2020 election for the powerful post.
In addition to her job as culture minister, Dati is also mayor of the capital’s wealthy seventh district, where the Eiffel Tower is located.
On the Paris city council, the conservative politician is leader of the opposition to Hidalgo, a Socialist. “[Dati] doesn’t intend to give up her war against her eternal rival,” commented Gala magazine, while broadcaster TF1 said the minister was launching “a fresh tug-of-war” with Hidalgo.
The mayor responded by saying she saw no reason to change the Eiffel Tower’s status. Instead, she said, Dati should come up with “the €1.4 million (about R29 million) the government owes for work on the Eiffel Tower”.
A major facelift for the monument, launched in 2019, was cut short by the Covid pandemic, and the discovery of significant levels of lead, a poisonous heavy metal, in existing layers of paint.
Following the week-long strike, the Eiffel Tower reopened at the weekend when its operator, Sete, reached agreement with the unions.
The deal stipulates that “the parties will regularly monitor the company’s business model, investment in works and revenue through a body that will meet every six months”.
Both sides agreed on an investment of €380 million up to 2031 toward works and maintenance.
The Eiffel Tower booked a shortfall of around €120 million in 2020 and 2021, when visitor numbers dropped sharply due to closures and travel restrictions.
Sete has since benefitted from a recapitalisation of €60 million, which unions say is insufficient.
Visitor numbers recovered to 5.9 million in 2022 and 6.3 million last year. –
The Eiffel Tower is not sufficiently protected