The Eiffel tower is to be turned green and covered in plants in a reported £65m move that has angered lovers of the enduring French symbol of love.
Plans to make the famous landmark environmentally friendly, embedding thousands of baskets of plants and a pioneering irrigation system were leaked to French newspaper Le Figaro.
Twelve tonnes of rubber tubing are to be threaded through the 1,063ft tower, transforming it into a ‘green lung’ of the skyline. The Eiffel tower is to become a avant-garde model of eco-tourism.
Once adorned, the green tower is predicted to be good for the environment, a ‘carbon positive’ monument in the capital of France.
Seedlings will be grown in nurseries around Paris and then hung on hemp poles on the structure, in changes planned over the next two years.
Ginger, the green engineering company involved in the proposal, confirmed the plans, although admitted it had initially intended to keep the move secret.
The move has outraged some, with Parisians not only balking at the price but also that Eiffel Tower, ostensibly an engineering masterpiece, is to be obscured with plants.
"The whole point of the Eiffel Tower is that it is an engineering masterpiece," said Anil Singh, who was visiting from Delhi, India.
"We have come to see the wrought iron – if we wanted to see a hanging garden we would go somewhere else."
Laurent Martin, who has lived in Paris all his life, told the Telegraph: "It is typical of the ridiculous green schemes which are introduced everywhere nowadays.
"This is an example of a city which is prepared to waste money at a time when nobody can afford it. It is quite scandalous."