Eiffel Tower closed

Paris: World-famous landmark on strike

Employees at the Eiffel Tower in Paris have walked off the job.(Bild: AFP )

Employees at the Eiffel Tower in Paris have gone on strike. The world-famous attraction was therefore closed on Monday. According to French media, employees of the Eiffel Tower want to achieve better financial management of the landmark.

According to the newspaper "Le Parisien", the employees are complaining that revenues have been overestimated and the costs of maintenance work underestimated.

Although the Eiffel Tower is actually repainted every seven years, it has not been repainted for almost 14 years, union representative Denis Vavassori told France Info. "It (the tower) is clearly in a state of decay." Traces of rust can already be seen underneath the tower. Even employees who have worked on the Eiffel Tower for more than 30 years have never seen anything like it.

One of the country's most popular sights
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most popular sights in France and is also known in the country as the "dame de fer" ("lady of iron"). Around seven million people visit the monument every year. The more than 130-year-old tower not far from the Seine was built for the Paris World's Fair and completed in 1889.