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New York Post
Did the 2024 Olympics change the look of the Eiffel Tower forever?
By Alex Mitchell,
9 hours ago
Vive la résistance!
Family descendants of famed 19th century Eiffel Tower architect Gustave Eiffel are balking at the idea of Paris keeping newly installed Olympic Rings on the global monument over their appearance. Locals and tourists back the sentiment.
As the city of love just famously — and notoriously in some cases — hosted the summer games, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo expressed interest in keeping their gigantic and vivid symbol of worldwide sport on display until the 2028 Los Angeles games or possibly longer.
The Olympic Rings added to the Eiffel Tower are causing backlash with the family of its engineer Gustave Eiffel. AFP via Getty Images
The rings are situated in between the tower’s two lower tiers overlooking the Seine River.
Annually, the 1889 erected monument by Eiffel — he also designed the Statue of Liberty — reels in an annual 7 million tourists, three-fourths of whom are foreigners, according to the tower’s website .
Many insist that the Eiffel Tower should revert back to its ring-less and classic pre-Olympic fit. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
Specifically, his family — organized as l’Association des Descendants du Gustave Eiffel (ADGE) take umbrage to the rings being “colorful, large in size, placed on the main avenue of approach to the tower.”
There is pushback over the Olympic rings remaining on the Eiffel Tower. Getty Images
They added that it “creates a strong imbalance” and is “substantially modifying the very pure forms of the monument.”
In other words, the rings are what a bumper sticker would be to a Rolls Royce.
The ADGE said in a translated statement , that its facade should also remain open so that it may support just causes as they come — such as supporting Ukraine against Russia — “as it has done regularly in the past.”
The Eiffel Tower is the subject of debate over keeping Olympic Rings hanging from its façade. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
CNN asked tourists and Parisians alike how they felt about the rings remaining and the unanimous feeling was that this should be a short-term endeavor. One English-speaking woman called them an “eyesore.”
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