Unrolling the first piece of the Arc de Triomphe wrapping cloth in Paris

Hundreds of meters of silver-blue recyclable polypropylene fabric were laid out on one side of the Arc de Triomphe, in the final phase of the project to encapsulate this Parisian landmark, as envisioned by the creator of this idea, the late Bulgarian artist Christo, who dazzled the world in the past decades with his huge artworks .

From September 18 to October 3, the childhood dream of the Bulgarian plastic artist who died in May 2020 and his wife Jean-Claude will come true. This 50-meter-high monument, considered an important site in the French capital, will be completely covered with 25,000 square meters of recyclable fabric. Made of polypropylene in silver and blue color, fixed with 3000m red rope.

Christo had previously enclosed the Pont Neuf in 1985, one of the most famous bridges on the Seine in Paris.

Preparations began at the end of June, and continue without interruption under the supervision of Vladimir Gavachev, Christo's nephew, in implementation of the very precise wishes of his uncle, and with the support of the Center for National Monuments in France.

After weeks of preparation, a team of 95 workers climbed onto the roof of the Arc de Triomphe to spread the first piece of cloth on its side overlooking Wagram Avenue.

It is expected to launch the facility on the eighteenth of September.

"Today this project is taking shape and is getting closer and closer to what Christo and Jean-Claude had imagined," said Vladimir Gavachev, noting that the public would "be able to see and touch this masterpiece for free."

"It will be like a living creature that comes alive in the wind and reflects the light. The folds will move and the surface of the monument will become sensual," Christo had said while presenting his last project, two years before his death.

In 1962 Christo and his wife Jean-Claude made a composite image showing the Arc de Triomphe wrapped in cloth, an idea born in their minds when they contemplated the monument from their first Parisian apartment on Avenue Foch.

The project, costing 14 million euros, is entirely self-financed thanks to the sale of original works by Christo, preparatory drawings, souvenirs and lithographs.

In an article published Saturday in the newspaper "Le Monde", the engineer Carlo Rati, one of Christo's friends, called for the abandonment of this project "which causes wastage of cloth ... for environmental and intellectual reasons".

Since 1836, the Arc de Triomphe, whose workshop was launched by Napoleon I in 1806, has been the site of ceremonies commemorating the victories of Napoleon's great army, and since 1921 it has housed the remains of the unknown soldier during the First World War.

In addition to the consequences of the pandemic, the project was also delayed due to the spring nesting of kestrels, which have long enjoyed their lives in the arc.

Christo died last year in New York at the age of 84, and was famous for wrapping world famous landmarks with cloth, including the Bonn Neuf bridge in Paris and the Parliament building in Berlin (Reichstag).