Parisians could be forgiven for thinking it was an April Fool's joke. However, the City Hall on Saturday reassured residents and visitors that they were not seeing double. The small replica of the iconic landmark by Philippe Maindron will be on display until 10 April.
A replica of the famous Parisian tower - ten times smaller than the original - was installed Saturday morning on the Champ-de-Mars in the centre of Paris.
"Seven years ago the idea came to me, on a night like this, to build the Eiffel Tower on a scale of 1/10. (...) The goal is to create a moment of lightness, something carefree," the creator of "Eiffela", Philippe Maindron told French news agency AFP.
"In the current situation, I think we need it a lot and there is no other goal than to create happiness and to create a bond".
Assembled in Vendée, about 400 km south-east of Paris, the replica is 33 meters high and weighs 32 tons.
Paris City Hall wrote on social media: "don't worry, you're not seeing things," referring to the structure's arrival on 1 April, which could be seen as an April Fool's joke.
Symbole mondial, @LaTourEiffel soufflait hier sa 134e bougie en très bonne compagnie. Bienvenue à Eiffela ! 🐟 😉 https://t.co/kng78o8SLh
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) April 1, 2023
The minature will stay in place until 10 April, according to the newspaper Le Parisien.
Dominique Dimitroff, a retired Parisian, describes the installation "very, very nice", with "two Eiffel towers for the price of one", while Frédéric Lepetit, a 35-year-old tourist, underlines that it is " the exact copy of its big sister".
But not everyone is thrilled.
The collective "Friends of the Champ-de-Mars" criticised this initiative, saying on Twitter that "most city dwellers simply want to walk in (beautiful) gardens".
The Eiffel Tower is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
*Nicknamed the Iron Lady (La dame de fer), it was constructed between in 1887 and 1889 as the centerpiece of the 1889 World's Fair.
(with AFP)
