Wings of the famous Parisian windmill Moulin Rouge fall onto the street

The rotor blades of the world-famous Moulin Rouge in Paris collapsed overnight.

The blades of the distinctive red windmill on the roof of France’s most famous cabaret club fell to the ground in the early hours of Thursday morning.

The club’s general manager, Jean-Victor Clerico, told reporters: “The Moulin Rouge has experienced many adventures in its 135-year history, but it is true that for the Wings this is the first time that something like this has happened.”

“Just before 2am, the windmill’s blades gave way and fell onto the boulevard. Fortunately, there were no pedestrians on the boulevard at the time. We are particularly relieved this morning that there were no injuries.” A spokesman for the venue said the last show on Thursday ended at 1.15am.

“Fortunately, this happened after closing time,” a Moulin Rouge representative told the French news agency AFP.

They added: “Every week, the cabaret’s technical teams check the windmill mechanism and have not found any problems.”

“This is the first time such an accident has occurred,” the official added.

The last major damage to the building was a fire that broke out during construction in 1915 and forced the facility to close for nine years.

The Paris fire department confirmed on Thursday that there were no injuries in the collapse on the busy Boulevard de Clichy.

The incident occurred just weeks before the Olympic Games in the French capital.

The cause of the accident is still unclear.

Located in the north of Paris, the Moulin Rouge cabaret with its distinctive red windmill wings is one of the city’s most visited landmarks. It is known as the birthplace of the modern dance form Cancan.

The audience for the club’s dance shows consists mostly of tourist groups.

Pictures on social media showed the blade unit lying on the road, with some blades apparently slightly bent from the fall.

A local resident, Laurence Plu, said: “I heard it on the radio. Since I live next door, I wanted to come and see with my own eyes what it was like. And it’s very sad.”

“It is no longer the Moulin, it has lost its wings, it has lost its soul.”