The opening of the Eiffel Tower was delayed on Monday morning after security officials found two American tourists sleeping at the monument overnight, officials said.
“They were discovered at dawn by the Sete security service, during the daily round of checks carried out before the monument was opened to the public,” according to the operator of the Eiffel Tower, Sociéte d’Exploitation de la Tour Eiffel , also known as Seth. The operator said it would file a complaint about the two intruders, who were not threatening and were handed over to police.
The Paris prosecutor’s office was informed on Monday morning that two American men were found sleeping on the Eiffel Tower site after entering with tickets on Sunday night, according to an office spokesman, who said alcohol was involved. He did not know where in the Eiffel Tower the men were discovered.
One of the most famous landmarks in the world, the Eiffel Tower was built from 1887 to 1889 to celebrate the centennial of the French Revolution and stands at a height of 1,083 feet. It receives about seven million visitors a year.
American tourists flocked to Europe this summer. The number of planned air arrivals in Paris for July and August rose 14.4 percent this year, and is now nearly 5 percent above the level in 2019, before the pandemic.
