For the 2024 Summer Olympics, the city of Paris outfitted its most recognizable landmark, the Eiffel Tower, with a set of giant Olympic rings mounted on its wrought iron lattice. The visual was so striking that Mayor Anne Hidalgo announced that she wanted to install the symbol permanently—but the descendants of the structure’s engineer, Gustave Eiffel have voiced their opposition to the plan.

“It does not seem appropriate to [us] that the Eiffel Tower, a historical symbol of Paris and France, should be permanently associated with an external organization, no matter how prestigious it may be,” the Association of Descendants of Gustave Eiffel (AGDE), an organization representing some 70 Eiffel relations, said in a statement.

“The Olympic Games change countries every four years. There is no reason why the Eiffel Tower should continue to wear the rings after the Paris Games,” the statement continued, arguing that “the façade should be able to continue to serve temporarily to highlight great causes, as it has done regularly in the past,” such as supporting Ukraine during the Russian invasion.

Hidalgo plans to come up with a way to hide the steel rings, forged by steel producer ArcelorMittal, during such displays when they would conflict with the neutral stance of the International Olympic Committee.

Olympic Rings are displayed on the Eiffel Tower ahead of the 2024 Paralympic Games on August 26, 2024 in Paris, France. Photo by Tullio M. Puglia/Getty Images.

A Change.org petition opposing the ring’s permanent installation has gathered over 33,000 signatures to date.

But Hidalgo fully intends to keep the rings mounted 200 feet in the air between the tower’s first and second floors after the close of the Paralympics on September 8.

“As mayor of Paris, the decision is mine, and I have the agreement of the IOC. So yes, they will stay on the Eiffel Tower,” Hidalgo told Ouest-France. She sees the rings as a visible representation of the success of the games, and the unexpected enthusiasm for the competition among the French people.

“I want the spirit of celebration to remain,” she added. “I’m delighted that the French have fallen in love with Paris again, after 10 years of bashing and telling us that it [the Olympic Games] was going to be hell.”

She plans to have ArcelorMittal create a more lightweight version of the 95-foot-wide, 45-foot-tall rings, which at 33 tons are too heavy for long-term display. (The city of Paris owns the tower as well as the Société d’Exploitation de la tour Eiffel, the company that manages it.)

The Eiffel Tower and the Olympic Rings during the Olympic Games opening ceremony in Paris, France, 2024. Photo: Joel Marklund/PA Images via Getty Images.

“Let the rings remain for a little longer than the Paralympic Games, why not? We have no problem with that,” AGDE president Olivier Berthelot-Eiffel, Eiffel’s great-great grandson, told the Guardian. “But the Eiffel Tower is not intended as an advertising platform.”

That may be, but it has actually served that purpose in the past. The Citroën car company actually had a massive advertisement stretching from the top of the tower down to the second platform from 1925 to 1934.

The brand’s name was spelled out in 250,000 glowing lights, the 100-foot-tall letters reportedly visible from 60 miles away. Paris agreed to the campaign because it meant someone else was footing the electric bill to illuminate the tower—a cost that allegedly led in part to the company’s bankruptcy.

The Eiffel Tower in 1925, outfitted with an illuminated ad for Citroën cars. Photo: public domain.

If the tower was a literal billboard for a decade, would it really be that bad for it to bear the symbol of a sporting competition dedicated to peace and international cooperation? Hidalgo thinks the red, yellow, green, blue, and black rings would a fitting addition to the landmark.

“It is a very beautiful idea to combine the Eiffel Tower, a monument designed to be ephemeral for a universal exhibition, with the games, an ephemeral moment which will also have left its mark on Paris and our country,” she said.

Eiffel designed his namesake tower for the 1889 Universal Exhibition. Originally meant as a temporary structure, it became not only a permanent fixture of the Paris skyline, but one of the most famous buildings in the world.

Rachida Dati, France’s Minister of Culture, who lost to Hidalgo in the 2020 mayoral election, believes the structure’s historic status could prevent the rings’ permanent installation.

The Olympic Rings displayed on the Eiffel Tower. Photo by Alex Slitz/Getty Images.

“The Eiffel Tower is a protected monument,” she wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Before any decisions or announcements are made on this, it is important that all the procedures and consultations aimed at protecting heritage should be respected.”

France first listed it as a historic monument in 1964, but is not formally classified as one, which would afford it more protections. In February, Hidalgo struck down a proposal from Dati to give the Eiffel Tower that classification.

If the mayor gets her way, the rings on the Eiffel Tower won’t be the only remnant of the games to become a lasting part of the Parisian cityscape.

Mathieu Lehanneur’s Olympic Cauldron floating in the skies of Paris next to the Eiffel Tower on day fifteen of the 2024 Olympic Games. Photo by Antoine Gyori, Corbis via Getty Images.

Hildalgo is hopeful that President Emmanuel Macron will approve the permanent installation of Mathieu Lehanneur’s floating Olympic cauldron in the Tuileries Gardens.

“It’s up to the president to decide,” she said. “But my opinion is that it should stay in the same place, because it’s an inseparable part of the Paris Games.”

And she also plans to install the 10 monuments of historic French women, unveiled in the River Seine during the opening ceremonies, along the rue de La Chapelle in the 18th arrondissement.