In the wake of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, cities across Europe have, quite literally, lost a bit of their sparkle. The ensuing energy crisis has left governments scrambling to reduce electricity consumption, and public monuments are falling victim to the consequences of the ongoing warfare.
From September 23rd onwards, Paris will be shutting down the light displays of the Eiffel Tower at 11:45pm instead of 1:00am. Similar measures have already been in place since February this year in Spain, where monuments and storefronts have been ordered to shut off their lights by 10:00pm.
The policy in France, however, is not only an environmentally-conscious policy. In fact, the evening lights of Paris only make up 4% of the city's total energy consumption. The strategy has been introduced largely as a symbolic gesture to express commitment to plans that would reduce Paris’ energy consumption by 10%.
Paris was first anointed the City of Light in the 1800s, for this reason, pledging to turn off the city’s iconic lights is such a monumentally powerful statement. Specifically, it epitomizes how art such as monuments and public spaces can be used to display the ethos of a city.
While Paris once relied on gas to keep its streets well-lit and secure, electric lighting now dominates the city’s contemporary urban environment. The lights of the Eiffel Tower, though iconic, are symbolic of an age of excess we can no longer afford. Safety and productivity were previously the driving forces of unrestrained illumination. However , since the mid-twentieth century, lighting for spectacle and advertising has far outshined the Iron Lady of Paris. With the evening lights of the Eiffel Tower now shutting earlier than ever. Paris, along with the rest of the world, are now more than ever steadfast on sustainable policy and the preservation of precious and scarce resources. Lights were once the signature of a modern city, but maybe a truly modern city should be a dark one.
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