Paris mayor insists on keeping Olympic rings on Eiffel Tower at least until 2028

September 6 () –

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo has insisted on Friday on her proposal to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower, despite the misgivings already made public by the current acting Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, and the association that includes the heirs of the engineer Gustave Eiffel.

“The proposal I have made is that until 2028, until the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, we leave the rings on the Eiffel Tower and the flags (the symbol of the Paralympics) on the Champs-Élysées,” Hidalgo said at a press conference on Friday. “Perhaps they could even stay longer.”

The mayor, a member of the Socialist Party, stressed that the decision would be up to Paris City Council, which had already commissioned a study to determine whether the current rings on display at the Eiffel Tower could be replaced by others that are just as large but lighter, thereby avoiding risks to the structure.

On Sunday, when Hidalgo’s plan became known, Dati posted a message on social media in which he recalled that the Tower is “a protected moment” and, before any “substantial” modification, its impact must be assessed. Thus, he appealed to the “exceptional” nature of the Olympic rings.