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Christo's design to cover the Arc de Triomphe: 25.00 square meters of fabric are required - more than three football fields
Photo: Andre Grossmann / Christo and Jeanne-Claude / AFP
Around a year after the death of the packaging artist Christo, the triumphal arch in Paris is covered with fabric. Preparatory work began on Friday according to the artist's original plans, as announced by Christo's nephew Vladimir Javacheff and the Museum Center Pompidou. The veiled triumphal arch is to be inaugurated on September 18 and will be visible for 16 days. The process can be followed in a live stream in a video on the artist couple's official website.
The first metal scaffolding can already be seen in the video.
The monument is to be packed with 25,000 square meters of plastic fabric and 3,000 meters of rope by September.
Christo actually wanted to cover the Parisian landmark with silver-blue panels last year, but the corona pandemic intervened.
Then Christo, who lived in New York, died in May 2020 at the age of 84.
In the French capital, Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude, who had since died, packed the Pont Neuf bridge in 1985.
In Germany, the artist couple is best known for wrapping the Reichstag in 1995.
The work of Christo Vladimirov Javacheff, born in Bulgaria in 1935, also included landscape projects such as “The Floating Piers” - jetties covered with yellow fabric on Lake Iseo in Italy - or “The Gates” in New York's Central Park.
Christo was always active in Germany as well.
He repeatedly took part in the Documenta in Kassel and created two projects for the Gasometer in Oberhausen: "The Wall" (1999) and "Big Air Package" (2013).
ime / AFP