LAST UPDATE | 20 May 2019

THE EIFFEL TOWER remains closed after a man was spotted climbing up the Paris landmark, the company that operates the structure said.

“A climber has been spotted. It’s the standard procedure. We have to stop the person, and in that case we evacuate the tower,” an official with the SETE operator told AFP, adding that police were on the scene.

The esplanade underneath the monument was also evacuated.

“We kindly advise our visitors to postpone their visit,” the SETE added on Twitter.

The operator has said as of 6pm local time (5pm Irish time) that it cannot give any indication as to when the attraction will reopen. 

Police have made contact with the climber but do not yet know why he began his ascent via the iron beams, a police source told AFP.

The tower is regularly the target of rogue freeclimbers hoping to scale one of the world’s most famous structures, often for bragging rights.

Police have not said what the man’s motivations for climbing the structure were.

A rescue worker, top in red, hangs from the Eiffel Tower while a climber is seen below him between two iron columns. PA Images PA Images

Nearly seven million people a year visit the 324-metre-high structure, which last week celebrated its 130th anniversary.

The first two floors can be reached by either elevator or stairs, but only elevators whisk people to the top observation deck.

That didn’t stop the French urban freeclimber Alain Robert from making it one of his first targets in his campaign to scale the world’s biggest buildings with no technical climbing gear.

He got to the top — not including the antenna– in the mid 1990s.

© – AFP 2019