Eiffel Tower in Paris to go dark at midnight as Europe faces energy crisis

The spiralling energy crisis in Europe due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict has cast its shadow on the world renowned, Paris monument Eiffel Tower.

The city hall of Paris is expected to consider the monument going dark more than an hour earlier than usual. At present it is currently illuminated after dark until 1 a.m. lending it a golden glow. Besides this it twinkles for five minutes on the hour from nightfall with 20,000 flashing bulbs.

It is now expected that Eiffel Tower will become dark at 11.45 p.m. once the last of the visitors leaves, thus there will be no more twinkle at midnight.

This initiative is being considered as setting an example of reducing energy consumption. The Head of the Tower’s management, Jean-François Martins theguardian.com: “It’s a highly symbolic gesture – part of the growing awareness around energy sobriety.”

Interestingly, in an exceptional gesture, the Tower went dark last week on Thursday night as a mark of respect to England’s Queen Elizabeth II who passed away on September 8.

Other monuments too are considering switching off lights earlier than usual. This includes Phara Palace in Marseille among others. In Germany too, monuments like Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church, Jewish Museum and Victory Column have reduced night-time lighting.