Moulin Rouge in Paris celebrates installation of new windmill sails

Paris’s Moulin Rouge cabaret club, whose landmark windmill sails fell down in April, has inaugurated a new set, a week before the Olympic torch was due to pass by the venue.

The home of the can-can was temporarily laid low after the sails of the red-painted windmill tumbled to the ground in the early hours of 25 April.

The first three letters on the cabaret’s facade – M, O and U – also fell off. No one was injured in the incident.

The club’s management said it had ruled out any “malicious act”.

Several hundred delighted locals and tourists gathered on Friday outside the club, one of the most visited attractions in the French capital, to celebrate the four red sails, decked out in gold and red.

“The windmill without its wings is a void for Paris; it was just sad,” said the managing director, Jean-Victor Clerico, who runs the family business.

“The idea was to be ready for the Olympic Games,” he added, which begin on 26 July.

The Olympic torch will pass by the venue on 15 July.

A show of French can-can, the wild traditional dance from Jacques Offenbach’s operettas of the 19th century, was performed in front of the club on Friday by dancers in traditional petticoats and frills.

“I live in the neighbourhood and the Moulin Rouge has been part of my life for 65 years. I’m a fan of dancing, the French can-can, bubbles and good humour,” Nicole Doucin, 86, said.

“I heard of the inauguration on TikTok and I’ve always wanted to come to a show but it’s so expensive, so it’s so cool to watch this,” said Autumn Mannsfeld, 25, from California.

More than 600,000 people a year watch the twice-daily shows at the Moulin Rouge, located at the foot of the Montmartre hill.

Founded in 1889, the cabaret became a global symbol of fin-de-siècle Parisian nightlife and its dancers have been depicted in paintings by artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec. It was also the location for Baz Luhrmann’s eponymous 2001 film, cementing its appeal.