Paris removes Olympic rings from Eiffel Tower while building lighter ones

The Olympic rings that have been on the Eiffel Tower since June were removed this Friday, although the Paris Mayor’s Office wants to replace them with a lighter structure that can remain until 2028.

The five-color rings, 29 meters long and 15 meters high, were placed between the first and second floors of the emblematic iron structure, but were removed, mainly, due to the weight they represent for the structure.

The mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, wants the symbol of Olympicism to continue decorating the monument until the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, despite the rejection of the descendants of its creator, Gustave Eiffel.

But the thirty-ton rings initially placed are not designed to withstand winter weather conditions.

The Paris City Council and the International Olympic Committee, as respective owners of the Eiffel Tower and the Olympic logo, say they are working on new, lighter rings.

While waiting for the installation of this new structure, smaller rings were hung from the Iena bridge, located just in front of the historic monument.

Hidalgo’s project to keep the rings until 2028 has met with strong criticism from heritage defenders and Eiffel’s descendants. The latter estimate that the decision would undermine the tower erected 135 years ago, which, in their opinion, was not designed to display “an advertising sign.”