France: Parisians attend reopening of Eiffel Tower after 8 months of closure

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Paris’ Eiffel Tower reopened its doors to visitors on Friday after being closed for more than 8 months through the coronavirus pandemic.

The landmark has had its doors closed to the public for the longest period since the Second World War.

“It’s the end of eight difficult months and today a real symbol of optimism. The Eiffel Tower reopens, tourism returns to Paris and we can rediscover the happiness of sharing this monument and Paris with our visitors from all over the world,” explained President of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) Jean-Francois Martin.

“We’ve sold nearly 70,000 tickets this summer and that will allow us to host between 10,000 and 13,000 visitors per day this summer. This is obviously less than our normal conditions since we have reduced the gauge to respect social distancing, but which at the same time will offer visitors optimal and somewhat exceptional visiting conditions because there will be fewer people, which allows one to enjoy the Eiffel Tower and Paris even more,” Martin went on to say.

The Eiffel Tower has also had recent paint issues after high lead concentrations in the current coating were detected in February, during works on the 20th painting campaign for the iron-based structure.

“A painting campaign is about 60 tonnes of paint. So over time, obviously it sags, but the Eiffel Tower weighs 10,000 tonnes so you see, it holds up, there is no problem. And the paint protects the original iron structure and that was really Gustave Eiffel’s will”, remarked SETE managing director Patrick Tranco Ruivo.

The campaign to repaint the tower will resume in September with the implementation of new painting techniques.

SOUNDBITES:

SOT, Jean-Francois Martin, President of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) (French): “There’s a lot of expectations and excitement for us. The Eiffel Tower has been closed for more than eight months. And, you know, the people who work here are above all passionate for Paris, heritage and they like to share the Eiffel Tower with visitors so we were in need of these visitors, these smiles, these children who are happy to be here. So, it’s the end of eight difficult months and today a real symbol of optimism. The Eiffel Tower reopens, tourism returns to Paris and we can rediscover the happiness of sharing this monument and Paris with our visitors from all over the world.”

SOT, Jean-Francois Martin, President of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) (French): “We’ve sold nearly 70,000 tickets this summer and that will allow us to host between 10,000 and 13,000 visitors per day this summer. This is obviously less than our normal conditions since we have reduced the gauge to respect social distancing, but which at the same time will offer visitors optimal and somewhat exceptional visiting conditions because there will be fewer people, which allows one to enjoy the Eiffel Tower and Paris even more.”

SOT, Jean-Francois Martin, President of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) (French): “Beyond sharing it with visitors, we must also maintain this monument. 132 years of history that we must take care of. Today there is the Ascenceur du Nord (North elevator) which we are in the process of redoing entirely using the same technique invented by Gustave Eiffel: the hydraulic cylinder, obliquely mounted, and which we want to renovate while respecting industrial knowledge.”

SOT, Patrick Tranco Ruivo, Managing director of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) (French): “We’ve fixed the lead issues, otherwise we wouldn’t have reopened. Obviously we have revised everything and we have thought about new forms of techniques (in painting) and we are starting the painting campaign again in September with these new techniques.”

SOT, Patrick Tranco Ruivo, Managing director of Societe d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (SETE) (French): “A painting campaign is about 60 tonnes of paint. So over time, obviously it sags but the Eiffel Tower weighs 10,000 tonnes so you see, it holds up, there is no problem. And the paint protects the original iron structure and that was really Gustave Eiffel’s will.”

#EiffelTower #Paris #France #COVID19 #coronavirus

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