Since the day it was built, it has been the symbol of Europe and an indisputable symbol of love. Proof of this are the tens of thousands of kiss photos uploaded to Instagram every year under her umbrella. A mandatory visit for tourists traveling to Paris and one of the most visited monuments: 6 million a year. Interestingly enough, it was expected to last 20 years before being dismantled when finished in 1889. Today, 133 years later, it still stands. Something that could change very soon.

Several leaked confidential reports show that the monument is in poor condition and full of rust. And it needs an urgent fix or we’ll have to say goodbye one day.

Putting a patch is not enough. Confused after the French magazine Marianne released several leaked confidential reports suggesting that the monument was in a very bad condition and had rusted to its core. The tower is stated to be in need of a complete overhaul, but is instead given just a makeover (a €60m paint job) for the 2024 Olympics in Paris. This is the twentieth image campaign administered to it, and it may not only be the most expensive, but also the most inefficient.

Experts argue that the metal of the tower should then be dismantled, repaired and repainted. But most importantly, painting over old paint makes corrosion worse. “Gustave Eiffel will have a heart attack if he visits here,” an anonymous expert told the magazine.

reports. Since 2010, various reports have warned of maintenance flaws and the extent of the damage. In one 2010 he wrote: “Sete (the company that manages it) should take another look at the tower and propose a completely new maintenance policy that focuses on aging metal structure.” A second report by Expiris, a specialist paint company, published in 2014 suggested that the tower had cracks and rust, and that only 10% of the new paint on the tower had been adhered to the structure. A third report in 2016 found 884 defects, including 68 that pose “a risk to the durability of the structure.”

Context. The monument is quite huge. It is at least 324 meters high and weighs 7,300 tons. According to this Guardian article, it was made using cast iron invented during the Industrial Revolution in England, a process that removes carbon in the smelting process, producing higher quality, purer wrought iron. Before its opening, four layers of red lead paint were applied, now banned, but later considered the best corrosion inhibitor.

Engineer Eiffel, the company that designed and built the monument, warned that the most important thing at the time was to stop the spread of rust to preserve its life, and suggested that it should be painted every seven years: “Paint is the component necessary to preserve a metal structure and the only guarantee of longevity. The most important The thing is to prevent rust from forming.”

The company does not want to close. However, despite the news, Sete, the company that maintains and manages the tower and is owned by the city council, has no intention of shutting it down for tourist revenue from the tower. These represent 52m euros (that’s what they lost during the Covid year).

Now, the truth is that the situation does not look good. Putting off and putting on a cloak to hide faulty care can be disastrous. What is not taken seriously today may have a high price tomorrow. It’s hard to imagine Paris without the imposing Eiffel Tower on the Champs de Mars.

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