The sails of Paris’s Moulin Rouge windmill crashed to earth overnight in a freak accident that has never occurred since the cabaret club was founded in 1889.

The incident, which management say is believed to have taken place around 2am, barely an hour after the night’s last show had finished, caused no injuries.

The cabaret’s distinctive red sails ripped off the letters “MOU” as they fell.

The fire brigade said there was no risk of further collapse and that the reason for the accident was not yet known.

Fanny Rabasse, head of press at the Moulin Rouge, said she had “no explanation for what happened at the moment”.

“The wings are very well maintained, and a technician comes by once a week to check the mechanism”, she said.

One of Paris’ most-visited landmarks

Luckily, the last show that evening had ended and “logically, there was nobody left inside, apart from security,” she added.

“It’s the first time that an accident like this has happened since” the cabaret, which launched the can-can dance craze, first opened its doors on October 6, 1889.

Social media posts showed the metal sail unit lying on the street below, with some of the blades looking bent.

The Moulin Rouge cabaret is located at the foot of Montmartre in northern Paris and is one of the most visited landmarks in the city.

Kevin Havet, deputy security officer, said that a security cordon had been set up and that municipal police officers were on site. Laurent Nuñez, the capital’s police prefect, told TF1 that “security architects from the police prefecture” had gone to the scene.

‘Paris without its mill is like Paris without its Eiffel Tower’

Residents gathered to witness the destruction.

“It’s quite disturbing to see it without it sails – it’s a symbol of Pigalle and even the whole of Paris. But the main thing is that no one was hurt”, Raphaël, one local told Le Parisien.

Stéphane Cachelinn vice-president of the local Lepic Abbesses shopkeepers’ association, said he initially “thought it was fake news”.

“A symbol of Montmartre, Paris and the world that has just collapsed,” he said.

“We could laugh about it…but it’s extremely shocking. We avoided the worst. I know that the Clérico family (who runs the establishment) will do everything in their power to repair them as quickly as possible”.

“Paris without its mill is like Paris without its Eiffel Tower,” said André Duval, maître d’ at the Moulin in the 1980s and a local resident for 50 years.

“I’m waiting to see the reaction of the thousands of tourists who come to see it every day. Not one person comes to visit Paris without taking a photo of it”. As for the cause of the accident, André said he was flummoxed: “It’s still very strange, there was no storm last night, so I hope we’ll soon find out what happened and that the cameras were able to capture the scene”.

Moulin Rouge is a must-see for many tourists who make up the bulk of the audience for its shows.

It was the subject of Baz Luhrmann’s eponymous 2001 jukebox musical romantic film starring Nicole Kidman and Ewen McGregor, which was turned into a Broadway musical.

The Moulin’s only other serious accident was a fire that erupted during works in 1915, which forced the venue to close for nine years. The cabaret underwent major renovations during the Covid pandemic and reopened its doors in September 2021 after a 17-month closure.

Welcoming 600,000 spectators a year, with two performances every evening, Moulin Rouge is due to celebrate its 135th anniversary on 6 October.

The accident occurred less than 100 days before Paris host the Olympic Games amid ongoing safety concerns.