The Eiffel Tower reopens its doors to the public: how was the monument prepared?

INTERVIEW

For this emblematic monument of the city of Paris, it was the longest post-war closure.

After nine months without visitors due to the coronavirus epidemic, the Eiffel Tower reopens its doors to the public on Friday, at 12:45 p.m.

In recent weeks, the Iron Lady's teams have been busy preparing the best possible for the return of visitors and carrying out a complete "check up", explains on Europe 1 Jean-François Martins, the president of the operating company (Sete ). 

>> Find the Tête-à-tête every day at 7.40 am on Europe 1 as well as in replay and podcast here

For the Eiffel Tower teams, "it's a lot of excitement, a lot of impatience," he says.

"We've known for several weeks that we will be able to reopen. The teams were impatiently waiting to be able to restart the machinery, reopen the monument, prepare the reception protocols." 

The gauge of the elevators divided by two

Still, this reopening will have to be done in compliance with health measures, while the rise in power of the Delta variant worries the authorities.

"Like all places that welcome the public, you have to enjoy this magnificent experience of the Eiffel Tower in complete safety", confirms Jean-François Martins, who lists: "respect for barrier gestures, wearing a mask, hydroalcoholic gel, social distancing , and from July 21, presentation of the health pass. "

To allow proper respect for social distancing, "we have halved the gauge of the elevators", explains the guest from Europe 1. "Instead of being 50 per cabin, visitors will be 25."

But after long months of closure, "it was necessary to wake up the Old Lady gently", assures Jean-François Martins.

"It was necessary to make a complete check up of the Tower, to make a big cleaning, to reorganize the sites, part of the work having continued during the closing so that the tower is beautiful ... First at the reopening, and also in the part of the major works that we are planning for the 2024 Olympic Games. "

Nearly 70,000 tickets already sold

"We removed all the work, re-released the spaces to the public, but also retested both the reception functions, the flows and also the elevators. We run them for three weeks to check the correct functioning of the system, its reliability ", details the president of the operating company. 

From now on, "everything is ready", he assures us, and the Tower "is only waiting for the Ile-de-France and the French to come and visit it". But will they be there? While the ticket office was reopened on June 1, "nearly 70,000 tickets have already been sold", with almost half for European and American tourists.