'A big gray elephant': Paris' Triumphal arch is wrapped up

Paris: The city of Paris is unveiling a monumental artwork built around an actual monument: the Triumphal arch completely wrapped in silver and blue fabric.

The installation by late artist couple Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who conceived the project in 1961, will open on Saturday. Visits will take place for almost three weeks. At weekends, the Triumphal arch’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.