The sails of the windmill on top of Paris' iconic Moulin Rouge cabaret club began to turn again yesterday for the first time since they fell off in 2024.
Dancers performed in front of the venue in the Montmartre district, in the north of the French capital, to celebrate the restart of the sails' rotation, while others held sparklers behind the lettering of the club's sign.
Crowds of tourists and Paris residents came to watch the display.
Australian dancer Jasmine Bard, who has been performing at the club for eight years, said she "couldn't be happier" to see the sails of the windmill turn again.
Moulin Rouge director-general Jean-Victor Clerico said the club was giving Paris back one of its iconic symbols, and the structure had been strengthened so the sails would not fall off again.
Montmartre residents Laure Morandina and Zelia Van Den Bulke were also happy to see the sails turn again. "It's a party, a fairy tale", Ms Morandina said.
The Moulin Rouge, founded in 1889, became a global symbol of end-of-the-century Parisian culture. Its famed can-can dancers widely depicted in paintings by avant-garde artists of the era, such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec and Georges Seurat.
Watch: 'I actually couldn't be happier for our windmill to turn again' - dancer
Nowadays, the audience is largely made up of tourist groups.
The sails on the windmill on the club's roof fell off overnight in April 2024 and were reinstalled ahead of the Paris Olympics the following July.
