Eiffel Tower touchup

This item appears on page 51 of the July 2009 issue.

The job of repainting the Eiffel Tower — by hand using small brushes — began this spring. The 18-month task is done every seven years. It will cost €4 million (near $5.3 million).

The world’s most-visited tourist attraction, drawing six million people a year, the tower was built in 1889 for the World’s Fair. Now “Eiffel Tower Brown,” at various times in the past it has been red, orange or yellow.