Upgrades planned for the Eiffel Tower

Here’s my dirty little secret: I lived in Paris for three years without ever going to the top of the Eiffel Tower.

Which is not so strange. Only 2% of the annual visitors to Gustave Eiffel’s Art Nouveau tower, built for the 1889 World’s Fair, are Parisians.

But this week the company that operates the Eiffel Tower announced a 10-year, $267-million project to upgrade the landmark, one that will include exhibitions meant to interest locals as well as tourists.

Other upgrades will include increased access for the disabled, the addition of shops, renovation of the first-floor restaurant and an online reservation system.

Every year 7 million people visit the tower, which was built to accommodate 500,000 a year. The result has been long lines and tourist frustration, which the reservation system is meant to address.

On a sadder note, this fall the beloved nighttime light show at the Eiffel Tower will sparkle in the sky for 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes every hour.

– Susan Spano, Los Angeles Times staff writer

[Photo: The view from the Eiffel Tower as visitors below line up to enter the landmark; by Jacques Brinon / Associated Press]

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 1:59 pm by Susan Spano and is filed under Europe, France. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.