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 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 . It is the most visited monument in the world.
Eiffel’s relatives, ready to take legal action according to CBS , “oppose any alteration that negatively impacts respect for the work” and want the rings down at the end of 2024. 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.” 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.” 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.” While the summer games brought in over an estimated 11 million global tourists to Paris , the ADGE says it’s time to move on as well. “Our association intends to continue to assert its position in the name of the moral duty it has towards the work of Gustave Eiffel.
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