Paris will start turning off the decorative lights adorning the city’s monuments a few hours earlier than usual.
As a result, the Eiffel Tower and other monuments will “go dark” – to cope with high electricity costs, officials said on Tuesday.
Most city-operated monuments will now not be illuminated from 10pm, a potential disappointment for tens of millions of tourists to the “Romantic City of Lights”.
The Eiffel Tower, usually in a warm glow until 1:00 a.m., will now go dark after the last visitor leaves at 11:45 p.m.
Street lights will remain on for safety reasons, as will the illumination of the city’s ornate bridges over the Seine River, Mayor Anne Hidalgo said at a news conference.
In August, President Emmanuel Macron warned that high energy prices caused by the war in Ukraine could signal the “end of plenty”, widely interpreted as public opinion preparing for a difficult winter ahead.