Eiffel Family Will Continue to Remain on Paris Tower and Fight Olympic Rings

The Olympic rings will not be left on the Eiffel Tower as the mayor of Paris intends, according to the heirs of the tower’s creator.

The famous engineer Gustave Eiffel’s family stated that they “oppose any alteration that negatively impacts respect for the work” of their ancestor and that they have already discussed the matter with legal counsel regarding the change’s blocking.

The enormous multicolored rings that were affixed to the “Dame de Fer” (the “Iron Lady”) during the Paris Olympics will remain in place, according to Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, at least until 2028, when the next Games will take place in Los Angeles.

However, the symbol’s heirs contended that it “substantially modifies the very pure forms of the monument” since it is “colorful, large in size, placed on the main avenue of approach to the tower (and) creates a strong imbalance” in the tower’s shape.

According to a statement released on Sunday by their family association, AGDE, keeping the rings in place would go against “the neutrality and meaning acquired over the years by the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of the city of Paris and even all of France across the world.”

They recommend that the rings be removed only “at the end of the Olympic year, which is in 2024.”

The 330-meter-tall Eiffel Tower is owned by the city of Paris and was finished in 1889 for the Universal Exhibition in Paris. Originally, it was only supposed to stand for 20 years.

According to its website, it is the most visited monument in the world, with about seven million visitors annually, of whom about three-quarters are foreign nationals.