Paris's Arc de Triomphe covered in shimmering fabric in a tribute to artist Christo

Tourists wandering along the most famous thoroughfare in Paris viewed the majestic Arc de Triomphe in its temporary guise as an art installation. The monument has been covered in silvery wrapping as a tribute to the late Bulgarian-born artist Christo. Imagined in 1961, "L'Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped" was finally brought to life by Christo's nephew, Vladimir Yavatchev, at a cost of about 14 million euros ($16.54 million).

Crowds of Parisians and tourists strolled along the Champs-Elysees avenue along the most famous thoroughfare in Paris to view the Arc de Triomphe in its temporary guise as an art installation. The monument has been covered in silvery wrapping, as conceived by the late artist Christo. Credit: AFP Photo

a little over a year after Christo’s death at the age of 84, “L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped” is a reality. About 270,000 square feet of silvery blue fabric, shimmering in the changing light of Paris, hugs the monument commissioned by Napoleon in 1806 at the giddy height of his power. The polypropylene material, its tone reminiscent of the city’s distinctive zinc roofs, is secured but not held rigidly fast by almost 1.9 miles of red rope, in line with the artist’s meticulous instructions. Credit: AFP Photo

Bulgarian-born Christo Vladimirov Javacheff met Jeanne-Claude Denat de Guillebon in Paris in 1958 and they later became lovers. The idea for the artwork was born in the early '60s, when they lived in Paris. Jeanne-Claude died in 2009, and Christo in May last year. The monument was to be wrapped last fall, but the Covid-19 pandemic delayed it. Credit: AFP Photo

At weekends, the Arc de Triomphe's traffic-heavy roundabout will be entirely pedestrianized. Visitors to the famous Napoleonic arch, which dominates the Champs-Elysees Avenue, will not only be able to see the gleaming fabric, but to touch it too — as the artists had intended. Credit: AFP Photo

The installation by late artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who conceived the project in 1961, opened on Saturday. Visits will take place for almost three weeks. Credit: AFP Photo

Those climbing the 50 meters to the top will step on it when they reach the roof terrace. Credit: AFP Photo

The 14 million-euro project is being financed through the sale of Christo's preparatory studies, drawings, scale models, and other pieces of work. Credit: Reuters Photo

The artists were known for elaborate, temporary creations that involved blanketing familiar public places with fabric, including Berlin's Reichstag and Paris' Pont Neuf bridge, and creating giant site-specific installations, such as a series of 7,503 gates in New York City's Central Park and the 24.5-mile

Roselyne Bachelot, the culture minister, said: “The Arc de Triomphe is taken away from our gaze and at the same time overexposed to our gaze. This subtraction and this overexposure lie at the core of the work. Thank you, Christo, for offering us the gift of looking in another way, in a new way, at masterpieces built by other artists.” Credit: AFP Photo

The Arc de Triomphe, like any great monument, was built to last. Christo’s conceptual art is ephemeral. Within weeks it will be dismantled. There is something liberating in this, perhaps because the fleeting nature of the work makes possession impossible. The work is immense, yet insubstantial. The fabric seems to express something nomadic, in keeping with Christo’s own peripatetic life. Credit: AFP Photo