The blades of the world-famous windmill at the Moulin Rouge cabaret club fell off and crashed onto the street on Wednesday night, shocking passersby and staff at the iconic Paris venue.
The collapsing structure took with it the first three letters of the theatre’s illuminated sign, with pictures showing the red tower standing without sails above the damaged frontage.
‘Fortunately this happened after closing,’ a Moulin Rouge official said. ‘We don’t know what happened, it occurred between 02.00 and 03.00 am, no one was hurt,’ they explained, adding the night’s last show had finished at 1.15 am.
‘Every week, the cabaret’s technical teams check the windmill mechanism and did not note any problems,’ the source said, adding that there was no more information on the reason for the collapse.
They added that it’s the first time that an accident like this has happened since the historic attraction, famed as the birthplace of the can-can dance, opened its doors more than 130 years ago.
The blades of the famous windmill at the Moulin Rouge cabaret club in Paris have fallen off
BEFORE: The windmill sails complete with their famous bright lights atop the famous red tower
The broken sails being winched into a lorry by workmen to be taken away after the collapse
Shocked passersby stopped, looked and took pictures of the damaged windmill sails, crumpled on the ground
Cordons and barricades were seen around the unit, which had tarpaulin over it before it was removed this morning
BEFORE: Hundreds of thousands of tourists flock to watch shows at the theatre every year. Pictured: British Dancers outside the Moulin Rouge in 2022
Firefighters said no one was injured in the incident and there was no risk of further collapse. The reason for the accident is not yet known.
Images on social media showed the blade unit lying on the street below surrounded by a cordon, with some of the blades bent and damaged from the fall.
Video taken by an early shift worker showed where the famous blades had crashed down, with barriers placed around them as they covered part of the road.
The structure was pulled back from the road and covered in green tarpaulin and wrapped with safety cordons.
Throughout the morning, shocked members of the public and tourists stopped, looked and took pictures of the unusual scene before the sails were loaded into the back of a truck and taken away.
Paris police chief Laurent Nunez told broadcaster TF1 that ‘safety architects’ had been sent to the scene.
General manager Jean-Victor Clerico, whose family have presided over the Parisian institution since 1955, said today: ‘The Moulin Rouge, in 135 years of history, has experienced many adventures but it is true that for the wings, this is the first time that this has happened.’
Part of the structure is seen on the street in front of the cabaret club before being taken away
The red tower on top of the famous Paris landmark is seen without sails today after the incident
‘A little before 2am, the wings of the windmill gave way, fell on the boulevard and fortunately at this time the boulevard was empty of passers-by. We are relieved this morning especially to know that there were no injuries.’
Clerico ruled out the possibility of a ‘malicious act’, adding that the building has 24-hour surveillance.
A spokesperson for the Moulin Rouge said the theatre would investigate the cause of the incident with experts and insurers.
Shocked locals described their upset at the scene today, with many visiting the scene to witness the historic collapse of the structure.
‘I can’t believe it,’ said Exauce, a cook at the cabaret who asked not to give his second name. He saw the blades on the ground as he arrived for work at around 8.00 am.
The windmill’s ‘wings’ have turned for many years, with the manager of the Moulin Rouge saying this is the first time something like this has happened
The blade unit fell from where it had been bolted on, with safety experts attending the scene
‘It’s as if the top had been chopped off the Eiffel Tower, it hurts me,’ said Daniel, a 58-year-old who said he passes the Moulin Rouge every day on his way to work. ‘I hope they repair it soon,’ he added.
German tourist Florence Chevalier said: “It’s weird to me, (the Moulin Rouge), it’s 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.
“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,” local resident Laurence Plu said. “It’s not the Moulin anymore, it lost his wings, it lost his soul.”
The dramatic incident at one of the most famous landmarks in Paris happened just months before the French capital is set to host the Olympics.
Sails of the landmark red windmill atop the Moulin Rouge, Paris’ most famous cabaret club, are seen on the ground
It could add to concerns of whether Paris, one of the most visited cities in the world, is ready to host the thousands more that will descend during July and August.
The Moulin Rouge cabaret, with its distinctive red windmill blades, is located in northern Paris and is one of the most visited landmarks in the city.
Known as the birthplace of the modern dance form the can-can, it opened its doors in October 1889 at the foot of the Montmartre hill.
It quickly became a hit and a stop to look at its glittering facade or catch a show inside is a must-do on most tourists’ lists of things to do in the City of Light.
A photo shows the Moulin Rouge circa 1895. The building was damaged by a fire in 1915
The windmill was opened to the public for the first time in 2022, with tourists able to win a one-night stay in the boudoir inside it.
The theatre inspired the 2001 Oscar-winning film of the same name, starring Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.
It attracts around 600,000 visitors a year, with two performances put on every night.
The only serious accident the landmark has endured was a fire that erupted during works in 1915, which forced the venue to close for nine years.
