EIFFEL TOWER. The town hall of Paris wants to turn off the Iron Lady at 11:45 p.m., the time at which the visits end, as part of the sobriety plan in order to fight against the energy crisis.
[Mis à jour le 14 septembre 2022 à 18h36] As part of the Paris City Hall’s emergency plan for sobriety, the Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has announced that she wants to “reduce energy consumption by 10%”, which means in particular putting an end to “ornamental lighting” in buildings. public from September 23, from 10 p.m. The end of the “illumination of the Eiffel Tower at 11:45 p.m.“is also part of the future measures of this sobriety plan. The schedule was chosen because it “corresponds to the closing time of the Eiffel Tower”, explained at a press conference the mayor of the capital on September 13. Until the decision is effective, the floodlights will continue to illuminate until 1 a.m.
But the decision to turn off these 336 projectors with an electrical power of 600 watts an hour and a quarter earlier is more symbolic than anything else, because they represent only 4% of the monument’s annual consumption, only causing a loss of 92 000 kW per year. But in a context of rising gas and electricity prices, “it is an eminently symbolic gesture to participate in raising awareness of the energy sobriety that we must show”, commented Jean-François Martins, president of the SETE (Eiffel Tower operating company) interviewed by AFP.
With each Parisian escapade, school outing, visit of great-great-aunts from the provinces… The Eiffel Tower, you cannot escape it. Why not vary the pleasures by sneaking behind the scenes of the great Iron Lady? Accompanied by a speaker, let yourself be told about these places unknown to the general public. On the program: the original machine room which still controls the elevators, the old “bunker” hidden under the Champ de Mars or the roof of the Eiffel Tower restaurant “Le Jules Verne”. What would you say to giving a little panache to your visit by arriving by the Seine? Jump aboard a boat bus, it will drop you off right at the foot of the Iron Lady, that’s Paris!
At 57 meters above Paris, unfolds the first level of the tower. The circular gallery provides a 360° view of the capital. It hosts a restaurant overlooking the Champ-de-Mars, ideal for a lunch or dinner with a view: the 58 Tour Eiffel. Back in pictures on its renovation in 2014:
It is at this intermediate level that we have, they say, the best view of Paris. On the 2nd floor, animated windows evoke the construction of the Eiffel Tower and explain the operation of the old hydraulic lift. Jules Verne said of the Eiffel Tower, when he was awarded the Legion of Honor: “I am decorated because I am the only man in France not to have visited the Eiffel Tower”. The height of irony, when you know that the elegant restaurant on the second floor of the Eiffel Tower is called… the Jules Verne. You can treat yourself to a great moment of gastronomy, or even raid the souvenir shop. Book your visit to the 2nd floor of the Eiffel Tower.
Paris now seems so small at some 276 meters above sea level. Access to this last floor can only be done by elevator. It’s time to get to know Gustave Eiffel, at least his wax double. His office, reconstructed, evokes the builder of the Tower and his daughter Claire receiving the famous American inventor Thomas Edison. We see among other things the phonograph that he offered to Gustave Eiffel. The orientation tables will allow you to find your bearings in relation to the largest cities in the world. To celebrate this unprecedented ascent with great fanfare, there is even a champagne baropen every day from 10:15 a.m. to 10:15 p.m. non-stop.
The Eiffel Tower is one of the most visited monuments in France, so you will need to be organized by buying your tickets in advance, so you avoid the queue to access the ticket office. Pay attention to the time slot of your ticket, which must be respected. If you want to avoid the crowds, it is wiser to favor opening hours at 9:00 am, or even a few minutes before.
- Elevator entrance ticket (up to the 2nd floor)
- Full price: 16.70 euros
- Price 12-24 years old: 8.40 euros
- Price 4 – 11 years old, job seekers and disabled: 4.20 euros
- Elevator Entrance Ticket with Summit
- Full price: 26.10 euros
- Price 12-24 years old: 13.10 euros
- Price 4 – 11 years old, job seekers and disabled: 6.60 euros
- Staircase entrance ticket (up to the 2nd floor)
- Full price: 10.50 euros
- Price 12-24 years old: 5.20 euros
- Price 4 – 11 years old, job seekers and disabled: 2.60 euros
- Entrance ticket stairs + elevator with summit
- Full price: 19.90 euros
- Price 12-24 years old: 9.90 euros
- Price 4 – 11 years old, job seekers and disabled: 5 euros
- Children under 4 are guests of the Eiffel Tower. Their companions pay the individual adult rate.
The Eiffel Tower is open from 9:30 a.m. to 10:45 p.m. The ticket offices close at 11 p.m. and the monument closes at 11:45 p.m.
Hard to miss, but here is the address of the Eiffel Tower: Champ de Mars, 5 Avenue Anatole France, 75007 Paris. To get there, several means of public transport are available to you. By metro, two lines will take you to the feet of the Grande Dame de Fer: line n°6 – you will get off at Bir-hakeim station – and line n°9, you will get off at Trocadero station. By bus, four lines will take you to the Eiffel Tower:
- Bus 82 stops “Eiffel Tower” or “Champ de Mars”
- Bus 42, “Eiffel Tower” stop
- Bus 87, stop “Champ de Mars”
- Bus 69, stop “Champ de Mars”
- Learn more: Eiffel Tower official website
It all started on May 1, 1886 when the Minister of Trade and Industry Édouard Lockroy signed a decree declaring open “a competition for the Universal Exhibition of 1889”. If the French engineer and industrialist Gustave Eiffel wins this competition, he is not really the “inventor” of the tower that bears his name. The idea came back to his collaborators Emile Nouguier and Maurice Koëchlin who were then working for the Eiffel company.
In 1889, the Universal Exhibition was organized in Paris. Metal constructions were then in full swing, and the project for an iron tower soon emerged in the design office of the Eiffel company. The two engineers Émile Nouguier and Maurice Koechlin wanted to build a high tower, a veritable pylon made up of four large beams joined together at regular intervals. It is the architect Stephen Sauvestre who is in charge of drawing a first sketch of the project in order to be able to defend it. A look behind the scenes, the anecdotes and the secrets that have marked the history of the one that symbolizes Paris and France throughout the world.
The Eiffel Tower designed according to the plans of the engineer Gustave Eiffel was completed on March 31, 1889, just before the official opening of the Universal Exhibition in Paris, after two years, two months and 5 days of work. The construction of the Eiffel Tower began strictly speaking on July 1, 1887. The various elements of the Tower were prepared in Levallois-Perret in Hauts-de-Seine (92), where the headquarters of the Eiffel company was located. The 18,000 pieces of iron are drawn and assembled. The four pillars are built at the same time, offering an astonishing spectacle to the Parisians of the time. Back on its construction, piece by piece:
- “An unsightly and giant skeleton” according to Guy de Maupassant – During construction, the Eiffel Tower provokes controversy. But Gustave Eiffel firmly defends his project. Fearing that it would destabilize the urban landscape, the Tower was the subject of harsh criticism from communities of architects and writers, at the head of which we find Maupassant and Huysmans. She is described as a “giant unsightly skeleton”, a “truly tragic lamp post” or a “factory pipe under construction”.
- “Do you think it will last?” – The President of the Republic Sadi Carnot wonders. But Gustave Eiffel takes care of the resistance to the winds of his new construction. Thus it did not blink during the storm of 1999, one of the most important of the century.
- A lucrative business – From its inauguration, the Eiffel Tower attracts crowds. There are more than 2 million visitors during the 5 months of the exhibition. The Eiffel company reaps significant profits and the receipts make it possible to immediately repay the capital to the shareholders.
The Eiffel Tower, 130 years of history
If the Iron Lady was inaugurated on March 31, 1889, as a preview of the Universal Exhibition in Paris, it opened its doors for the first time to the public on May 15, 1889. To wish him a happy birthday, the City of Paris and the Sete (Eiffel Tower operating company) had commissioned a light show which took place from May 15 to 17 at the Eiffel Tower. The show was the work of Bruno Seillier, the famous scenographer of the Dame de Coeur show which was projected on Notre Dame de Paris last year. This luminous laser show drew the Eiffel Tower using laser wire for the first time. Discover the sound and light show of the 130th anniversary of the Eiffel Tower in pictures:
A renovation and security program is currently underway to make the Iron Lady ever more attractive but also with the aim of protecting it. This vast construction site does not interfere with visits to the monument. We tell you more below.
A vast plan to secure and renovate the Eiffel Tower is being carried out until 2032 due to an ever-increasing terrorist threat in Paris. Its total cost amounts to 300 million euros and because of these major works, the prices of the Iron Lady have risen sharply for a year. This plan culminates in the achievement of its main objectives before 2024, date of the Olympic Games in Paris. Work began on September 18, 2017 with the installation of a bulletproof, anti-intrusion and anti-ram car glass wall at the front of the Eiffel Tower, on the Champs-de-Mars side, and at the back, on the Quai Branly side. This 3 meter high fence represents the tidy sum of 20 million euros. Entrances and exits of visitors to the Eiffel Tower are on the side of the bridle paths, on each side of the monument, protected by metal plates called “Eiffel fence”.
At the same time, a campaign to renovate the Eiffel Tower, listed as a historical monument and by Unesco, is underway to make it more attractive. Painting and repair work on the lifts has been planned for a period of at least 5 years since 2018. The Jules Verne restaurant, hoisted to the 2nd floor, has had a facelift in 2020. A future reception center will open in 2023 after 2 years of work and new shops should open. Queues will be virtually eliminated with the deployment of 80% of Eiffel Tower tour reservations online. It should be noted that there will be no closure of the site throughout the period of the works, except for the 1-star restaurant.