The Eiffel Tower is riddled with rust and in need of complete repair, according to a report leaked to French magazine Marianne. The tower, built in 1889, was originally only supposed to last for 20 years.
An anonymous manager at the tower told Marianne: “If Gustave Eiffel visited the place he would have a heart attack."
The tower is made from iron and was originally coated with four layers of lead paint - now banned - as Eiffel said stopping rust was the biggest challenge for the structure. He said it would need repainting every seven years.
The tower is about to be repainted for the twentieth time, ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris - but just 5% of the structure will be coated.
Experts told Marianne the tower needs to be completely stripped back to the metal, rust repaired and then repainted. The tower is managed by Sete - which was told in 2010 to 'come up with a completely new maintenance policy'.
A report by paint experts in 2014 found the tower was cracked and rusting with just 10% of the newest paint sticking to the structure.
A third report in 2016 found 884 faults, including 68 classified as posing a risk to the durability of the tower.
