Status: 07/16/2021 12:49 p.m.
Because of the corona pandemic, the Eiffel Tower was closed to tourists for months. The time was used for a new coat of paint. The Parisian landmark is not finished yet – but it is finally accessible again.
By Cai Rienäcker, SWR,
currently Paris
On the day before the opening, some tourists are still wandering around the large glass barriers on the Eiffel Tower. Alexander and friend Vanessa from Neumünster didn’t realize that the tower had been closed for months. “We really wanted to go up there, we had planned it that way, but then unfortunately it was closed.”
Rabea from Bocholt is also standing in front of the Eiffel Tower with her husband and children. But looking up is enough for them. They came from Disneyland, wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, and then they were going back to Germany.
“You should have seen it”
That is out of the question for Julian from Berlin. He remains to finally drive the Eiffel Tower all the way to the top. “Of course,” he says with conviction, “you have to see it, I think, regardless of the cost.”
The price for the adult ticket up to the top viewing platform at 279 meters is 26 euros and 10 cents. Since the corona-related closure of the Eiffel Tower in October last year, painters who are free from giddiness have applied a new coat of paint by hand hanging from cables.
For the first time, the 18,000 metal struts are not just painted over. The 19 previous coats of paint applied since 1889 will also be completely removed in order to reduce the weight of the tower. Not without problems: there is lead everywhere on the construction site, reported Alain Dumas, technical director of the operating company in February.
“A real makeover”
The work had to be suspended in between. In the meantime, however, the upper part of the Eiffel Tower has been repainted – and not in the previous Eiffel Tower brown. The new color is a yellowish brown. The general manager of the Eiffel Tower operator, Patrick Bianco Ruivo, says: “When there is a beautiful blue sky over Paris, you can see metallic shimmering effects. That gives the tower a real makeover.”
The slight gold shimmer should again correspond more to the color that the builder Gustave Eiffel wanted for his tower. The large-scale beautification campaign is also an anticipation of the 2024 Olympic Games, for which Paris naturally wants to dress up.
Finally open again
The renovation work on the Eiffel Tower has not yet been completed. But visitors can come back for now, at least as long as the pandemic allows.
Starting next week, Wednesday, all adults who want to go to the Eiffel Tower must have a valid EU health passport with a completed vaccination or a negative corona test, not older than 48 hours. Young people – according to the current status – can go up until the end of August without proof.
Eiffel Tower opens again after a Corona break
Cai Rienäcker, ARD Paris, July 16, 2021 8:24 a.m.