Eiffel Tower ‘worth €434bn’

THE Eiffel Tower is Europe’s most valuable historic monument – worth €434 billion – an Italian study claims.

The Chamber of Commerce of Monza and Brianza, a small province near Milan, estimates that the tower is worth nearly five times more than its nearest competitors, the Colosseum in Rome (€91 billion) and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona (€90 billion).

The price tag equates to about a fifth of France’s GDP.

The Tower of London is claimed to be worth €70.5 billion, while Stonehenge is a mere €10.5 billion.

The study was based not on the material value of the monuments, but on their image, branding and attractiveness to visitors.

It used figures from European statistics bodies Eurostrat and Istat and from the Urban Audit, a study of cities carried out for the European Commission.