Paris - The Eiffel Tower is to get a fresh coat of brown paint for its 120th birthday, but will stay open to the public throughout the 18-month makeover, operators said Tuesday.
Two dozen mountaineer-painters will coat the Paris monument in 60 tons of environmentally-friendly paint, in a specially-mixed hue called "Eiffel Tower Brown" chosen to blend well with the city landscape.
Applied in three shades from very dark to light at the top, it will be the 19th paint job for the landmark, which gets a new coat every seven years.
Soaring 324 metres above the Paris skyline, the tower is the world's most visited tourist attraction, drawing some six million people each year.
In the past the tower has gone from reddish brown to ochre-brown, yellow, brownish-yellow and dark red, before operators settled in 1968 on the current colour.
"This is the colour that suits the tower best - its most elegant dress," Jean-Bernard Bros, head of the company that operates the tower, told reporters.
"That is what filmmakers, photographers, lovers of Paris, all those who love the Eiffel Tower have been telling us for 40 years - so we have decided to keep the brown for good," he said.
Designed by the engineer Gustave Eiffel, the tower was built for the 1889 universal exhibition in Paris and was initially dismissed as an eyesore by many Parisians.
The Eiffel Tower was intended to be taken down after 20 years, but the authorities decided to let it stand, first for use as a radio communications tower and then as a landmark in its own right.
For its 120th anniversary, Paris is staging a special exhibition in May, followed by a fireworks display and night of concerts in July. - Sapa-AFP