エッフェル塔、過去最大の塗装工事　五輪に向けやや金色に

【パリＡＦＰ＝時事】フランス・パリのエッフェル塔は、2024年のパリ五輪に向け、その130年余りの歴史で最も大規模な塗装工事が行われている。（写真は資料写真）
　過去１９回の塗装による塗膜の層を取り除く作業に加え、１９６８年以降親しまれてきた「エッフェルタワーブラウン」よりも、金色を帯びた色に塗り直す作業も行われる。設計者ギュスターヴ・エッフェルが望んでいた黄色と茶色を混ぜた色だ。
　今回、色の変更を決めた建築家は「石灰岩の家が並ぶパリの街と塔とが調和する」よう、エッフェルがこの色を望んだのだろうと、その理由について自らの考えを語った。
　エッフェル塔運営会社のパトリック・ブランコ・ルイボ最高経営責任者（ＣＥＯ）は、「エッフェル塔は、五輪の頃には、われわれが見慣れている色よりも少し金色を帯びた色になる」と話す。
　高さ３２４メートル、１万８０００個の金属部材を２５０万個のリベットで組み上げたエッフェル塔を塗り直す今回の工事は大がかりで、５０００万ユーロ（約６３億円）の費用が見込まれている。
　古い塗装には有害な鉛が含まれているため、塗装を剥がす作業は作業員の健康対策をしっかり取って行われる。
　エッフェル塔は、その金属の構造を風雨や日光、汚染から守り、美観を保つためおよそ７年ごとに新しく塗装されている。
　現在の改修工事は２０１９年に始まり、２０２２年に終わる予定。まだ塔の上部にわずかに見えているだけの新しい色は、工事が終わる頃には誰の目にも明らかになる。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】

〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/02/04-16:20）

The Eiffel Tower has embarked on the most extensive revamp of its 130-year history to look its best for the 2024 Paris Olympics, including with a paint job giving it a distinctly golden hue.
Not only will layers from the 19 previous coats of paint be removed, but the Paris icon will also lose the signature Eiffel Tower brown it has sported since 1968.
It will be replaced with a yellow-brown composition that Gustave Eiffel himself wanted for his monument.
It's going to give the Eiffel Tower a bit more of a gold hue than the colour that we're used to seeing, in time for the Olympic Games, said Patrick Branco Ruivo, the CEO of the company operating the tower.
The renovation job for the 324-metre (1,063-foot) tower, with its 18,000 metal pieces held together by 2.5 million rivets, is monumental, coming to an estimated 50 million euros ($60 million).
The stripping of the old layers is made hazardous by the presence of lead, requiring a strict health protocol for workers.
The Eiffel Tower receives a new coat of paint every seven years, as much for the protection of its metallic structure from the wind, rain, sun and pollution, as for the maintenance of its looks.
The current work started in 2019 and is to be completed by 2022 when the new shade of gold -- which for now can be detected only vaguely at the top of the tower -- will be visible to all.
Why did Gustave Eiffel pick yellow-brown? Probably so the Eiffel Tower would echo the whole city of Paris, with its cut-stone houses made of limestone, said Pierre-Antoine Gatier, the chief architect for France's historical monuments who decided on the colour change.
For some of the workers it's the job of a lifetime.
Most of the time we move around like at a treetop adventure course, said Antoine Olhagaray, a 22-year old steeplejack.
Not to mention the view, added his colleague, Charles-Henri Piret. It's not every day you get to hang off a rope at 300 metres.
The Eiffel Tower will play a prominent part in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics, serving as a backdrop for the triathlon and open water swimming events.
It will also tower over much of the adjacent festivities along the river Seine, where crowds are expected to flock for shows, concerts and other entertainment.