Archinect - News 2024-11-21T14:12:53-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150424554/labor-and-funding-disputes-are-impelling-repair-work-on-the-eiffel-tower Labor and funding disputes are impelling repair work on the Eiffel Tower Josh Niland 2024-04-18T18:20:00-04:00 >2024-04-19T13:33:13-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ad/ad222aad793af8d1495e99c4f4cb1eed.JPG?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><em><p>To date, only 30% of the tower has been repainted. Adding more than 100 weekly operations to monitor the lead increased annual running costs from &euro;50m to &euro;92m&mdash;and may reach a staggering &euro;130m. The unions have also denounced the state of infrastructure, which sees tourists with tickets still queuing for up to three hours.</p></em><br /><br /><p>In February, the Soci&eacute;t&eacute; d&rsquo;Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel (or SETE), which operates the tower announced losses nearing $2 million as a result of the weeklong strike. Paris Mayor <a href="https://archinect.com/news/tag/2394000/anne-hidalgo" target="_blank">Anne Hidalgo</a> has sparred openly with both France&rsquo;s culture and tourism ministers about the tower&rsquo;s lacking historical monument status and security situation on the Champ de Mars. The presence of lead paint and the pandemic have also combined to frustrate repair work efforts. The landmark&rsquo;s last official full paint job, the nineteenth since it opened, was completed in 2010.</p>