MILAN, June 26 — Thousands of visitors walked on water yesterday when they visited Bulgarian-born artist Christo’s latest art installation, The Floating Piers, on Lake Iseo, 100 kilometres east of Milan.
Despite a forecast of thunderstorms threating closure of installation, over 10,000 tourists arrived early in the day to experience the 4.5-kilometre walkway.
It’s made up of floating pontoons, covered in 70,000 metres of iridescent orange-yellow fabric, stretching from the town of Sulzano on the edge of the lake to Monte Isola and San Paolo islands.
The installation was opened last Saturday (June 18) and local authorities had expected around 40,000 visitors a day. But 97,000 came on Wednesday alone.
A week later the Mayor of Monte Isola said half a million people had visited, and he expected the flux to continue.
Made of some 220,000 high-density polyethylene cubes covered with shimmering yellow fabric, the piers have suffered more wear and tear than expected.
The installation, which runs until July 3, took two years of planning and cost €15 million (RM68.3 million), paid for by the artist himself. — Reuters
