Eiffel Tower gets a birthday makeover
Paris celebrated the 120th birthday of its “Iron Lady” yesterday, treating the Eiffel Tower to a facelift a century after it was supposed to have been dismantled.
A team of 25 steeplejack painters from the poorer fringes of Europe clambered to the top and started brushing on 60 tonnes of semi-gloss, the 17th coat it has received since its opening on March 31, 1889.
The men, working for a Greek shipyard company, will take about 18 months to finish the job, using brushes but never spray-guns to apply the grey-brown hue that is patented as “brun Tour Eiffel”. When Gustave Eiffel completed his 300m (990ft) edifice in 1889 it bore only red rust-proofing. It was not expected to need much more because it was due to be demolished in 1909, 20 years after it dominated the great exhibition marking the centenary of the French Revolution...
Read entire article at Times (UK)
A team of 25 steeplejack painters from the poorer fringes of Europe clambered to the top and started brushing on 60 tonnes of semi-gloss, the 17th coat it has received since its opening on March 31, 1889.
The men, working for a Greek shipyard company, will take about 18 months to finish the job, using brushes but never spray-guns to apply the grey-brown hue that is patented as “brun Tour Eiffel”. When Gustave Eiffel completed his 300m (990ft) edifice in 1889 it bore only red rust-proofing. It was not expected to need much more because it was due to be demolished in 1909, 20 years after it dominated the great exhibition marking the centenary of the French Revolution...