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Part of the Eiffel Tower's original spiral staircase was sold at auction in France for more than 450,000 euros, Tengri Life reports, citing DW.
According to auction house Arcurial, the section in question is approximately 2.7 meters high and has 14 steps. The buyer, whose name has not been disclosed, bid the highest and became the owner of this historical artifact.
The sold fragment connected the second and third levels of the Eiffel Tower. It was this spiral staircase that visitors to the 1889 World's Fair ascended, for which engineer Gustave Eiffel designed the tower.
The structure, weighing nearly 1.4 tons, was in a private collection for over 40 years. Before its sale, it was restored by specialists who work on the Eiffel Tower.
In 1983, the staircase between the tower's second and third levels was dismantled during modernization. It was deemed too dangerous for visitors and was replaced with modern elevators.
After dismantling, the structure was cut into 24 pieces of varying sizes. Today, individual fragments are displayed near the Statue of Liberty, in museums and private gardens in Japan, and one element is installed at Disneyland. The remaining parts of the staircase are in major private art collections.
The Eiffel Tower was built for the 1889 World's Fair. Initially, the structure was intended to be temporary, and it was planned to be dismantled after the fair's conclusion. However, over time, the tower became the main symbol of Paris and one of the most visited buildings in the world.
