Windmill sails fall from Paris' Moulin Rouge
STORY: This is what the Moulin Rouge looked like on Thursday (April 25) after the sails of the landmark red windmill fell to the ground overnight.
Jean-Victor Clerico is the general manager of the celebrated cabaret club.
“The Moulin Rouge, in 135 years of history, has experienced many adventures but it is true that for the sails, this is the first time that this has happened."
He added that no one was injured in the incident.
A spokesperson for the Moulin Rouge said the theater would investigate the cause of the incident with experts and insurers.
Clerico said whatever the cause, it was not intentional.
The Moulin Rouge was founded in 1889.
It became a global symbol of end-of-the-century Parisian culture.
Its famed can-can dancers have been widely depicted in paintings by avant-garde artists of the era.
Nowadays the audience is largely made up of tourist groups.
Florence Chevalier is visiting from Germany.
“It's weird for me. It is Paris. It's like the Eiffel Tower, it's Paris. It's weird, you can't say it any other way.”
And it wasn't just tourists that came to see what happened.
Laurence Plu lives next door.
“I heard it on the radio. As I live next door, I wanted to come and see with my own eyes what it was like and it's very sad. It's not the Moulin anymore, it lost its sails, it has lost its soul.”
