Paris’s mayor said Friday that she intended to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower until at least 2028 despite criticism of the idea from some residents and lawmakers.
The logo of five interlocking rings was erected on the beloved monument before the July 28-August 11 Olympics in Paris and has become a popular backdrop for selfies by visitors.
Anne Hidalgo, the Socialist mayor in power since 2014, caused widespread surprise last weekend by saying she intended to retain the symbol.
“The proposal that I have made for the rings … is a proposal that until 2028, until the Games in Los Angeles, we will leave the rings on the Eiffel Tower,” she told reporters at a press conference.
“Perhaps after 2028, they’ll stay and maybe they won’t. Let’s see,” she added.
The idea has sparked criticism from many opposition Parisian lawmakers, residents as well as conservation groups.
The descendants of the tower’s designer, Gustave Eiffel, issued a statement saying that it “does not seem appropriate to us that the Eiffel Tower, which has become the symbol of Paris and the whole of France since its construction 135 years ago, has the symbol of an outside organisation added to it”.
Deputy mayor Pierre Rabadan confirmed to AFP on Tuesday that Hidalgo wanted to keep the rings permanently on the tower.
The Agitos logo for the Paralympic Games, which wrap up on Sunday, was placed on the Arc de Triomphe but will be moved to a location mid-way up the Champs-Elysees avenue, Hidalgo added.
Some critics have slammed the Eiffel Tower announcement as a personnal initiative taken without consulting the city’s council, or the capital’s residents more broadly.
“The mayor of Paris is not someone who lets opportunities slip by,” Hidalgo told reporters. “When you’re mayor you take decisions because you are legitimate to take them.”
The rings belong to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) while the Eiffel Tower is the property of the city of Paris.
It is on a list of protected monuments which is likely to complicate the task of keeping the logo.
The current rings will have to be removed because they are too heavy to keep on the monument, with the IOC financing a technical study to design new, lighter versions that can be attached to an attraction known affectionately by Parisians as “the Iron Lady”.
