Refer Report

“The fate of the Eiffel Tower’s five rings changes due to political fight.”

On the 8th (local time), the European edition of Politico described the scenery of the Eiffel Tower, a landmark in Paris that hosted the Summer Olympics and Paralympics from July 26th to this day.

This is an explanation of the local atmosphere that has been fueled by political debate since Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo proposed at a press conference on the 6th, “Let’s keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower and the Paralympic symbols on the Champs-Élysées until 2028.”

Earlier, Mayor Hidalgo told local media that he planned to keep the Olympic rings hanging 70 meters high between the first and second floors of the Eiffel Tower even after the Olympics and Paralympics, and that he had reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

The Eiffel Tower’s owner and operator, the City of Paris, has the authority to make such decisions.

However, the political world has raised questions about his intentions. There are suspicions that he, who is running for a third term in the 2026 Paris mayoral election, is attempting to put up an ‘election poster’ on the Eiffel Tower.

Former Culture Minister Rashida Dati wrote on social media X earlier this month that the Eiffel Tower is a “protected monument” and “requires approval for works and an impact assessment in accordance with cultural heritage regulations,” adding that “hanging the Olympic rings was an exception under Olympic law, but it was temporary,” and that “all procedures and agreements aimed at protecting heritage must be respected.”

Former Minister Dati is seen as a political rival to Mayor Hidalgo.

Paris city councillor David Alpin also said Hidalgo had done “everything he could” to revive the positive effects of the Olympics, and that the proposal was “a huge political opportunism”. “The Eiffel Tower was not built to bet everything on it,” he said.

Julien Lacaz, president of the French heritage conservation association Sites and Monuments, a non-governmental organization, criticized Hidalgo’s proposal as “clinging to the Eiffel Tower like a parasite” and “using its reputation to say, ‘This is my Olympics'”.

Descendants of Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), who designed the Eiffel Tower, also opposed this proposal.

Olivier Berthelot Eiffel, a great-grandson of Gustave Eiffel, told Politico that the rings “completely ruin the design” and “do not respect the work of our ancestors.” He added that this was the first time the Eiffel family had publicly opposed plans for the tower.

Decorating the Eiffel Tower is not unprecedented. Last February, on the first anniversary of the Ukrainian war, the city of Paris lit up the Eiffel Tower in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag, to show support for Ukraine.

Also, in the 1920s and 1930s, the French car company Citroen installed 250,000 light bulbs on the Eiffel Tower to advertise its name. Politico said, however, that “this was all temporary.”

Regardless of how the final decision is made, the current 30-ton Olympic rings are likely to be torn down because they are too heavy. Mayor Hidalgo also announced that the city plans to build a new, lighter Olympic rings to replace them.

Reporter Kim Mina mina@hani.co.kr

Source: Korean