France: the Arc de Triomphe will soon look like a giant gift package
The packaging work for the Arc de Triomphe began on July 15 and the project will cost 14 million euros in total.
REUTERS - CHARLES PLATIAU
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
The Arc de Triomphe, located in Paris at the top of the Champs-Élysées, will soon change appearance, within a fortnight.
In mid-September, it will look like a giant gift package.
This is what the Bulgarian artist Christo wanted, who died in May 2020, and who had already packed the Pont-Neuf in Paris in 1985.
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The packaging work of the Arc de Triomphe began on July 15, while the monument continues to welcome visitors.
On the Place de l'Étoile, between cranes and scaffolding, the site is currently halfway through.
Metal structures surround the building before it is packed in mid-September.
"
Right now, we are finishing the installation of this metal structure which completely envelops the triumphal arch, so that the canvas does not damage the monument
" explains Soraya Chaar who coordinates the various teams.
To dress the monument and give it the appearance of a gift package, it will indeed take a lot of fabric and hundreds of meters of red ropes.
“
We need 25,000 square meters of fabric, that's five football pitches.
We also need 3000 meters of ropes.
It is the distance which separates the triumphal arch from the pyramid of the Louvre
”, specifies Laure Martin, who chairs the project.
►
To read: When Christo and Jeanne-Claude “pack” Paris
Respect for the flame rekindling ceremony
In all, 150 workers work day and night on the site.
The only stop is at 6 p.m. every night for the Unknown Soldier Flame Rekindling Ceremony.
“
The ceremony to rekindle the flame has taken place since November 11, 1923, every day,”
recalls Bruno Cordeau, the administrator of the Arc de Triomphe.
So every day between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. the site stops to respect the solemnity of the moment.
"
Entirely self-financed, the packaging of the Arc de Triomphe will cost 14 million euros.
►
To read: Christo: "I defend the total freedom of art"
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