Paris mayor plan to keep Olympic rings on Eiffel Tower opposed by designer's family

Plans by Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo to keep the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower have been opposed by the family of Gustave Eiffel, the landmark's designer.

PARIS — There are few sights more iconic than the Eiffel Tower and the Olympic rings. But not everyone agrees they belong together — least of all the family of the man who designed the landmark, which is now at the center of a high-profile fight over its future.

The multicolored logo adorned the Eiffel Tower during the Paris 2024 Games, just as they had hung from London’s Tower Bridge in 2012 and the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 2000.

Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo revealed last week that she plans to keep the rings there indefinitely, reflecting the extent to which this famously cantankerous city was swept up with Olympic bonhomie.

The proposal sparked outrage, with political opponents accusing Hidalgo of trying to cash in on the event’s success ahead of a re-election bid and heritage campaigners saying she risked besmirching a piece of the city’s architectural history.

Now, those voices have been joined by the family of Gustave Eiffel — the engineer who designed the eponymous tower for the city's Universal Exposition of 1889.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/paris-olympic-rings-eiffel-tower-mayor-family-rcna170172

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