The Arc de Triomphe in Paris is wrapped – last night the last ropes were fixed. Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s lifelong dream, planned for decades, is now complete and can be seen posthumously for 16 days in the French capital.
The work to complete the temporary artwork took almost eight weeks. schlaich bergermann partner was on site the entire time and supervised together with Christo’s team the execution of work. Collaboration on this project with Christo had already commenced in 2019, when sbp was assigned with the development of the structural concept for the wrapping.
Since the end of August, the substructure has already been fully assembled on the Arc de Triomphe. It consists of steel truss structures in front of the statues, cornices and ornaments, corner pieces and wooden boxes for securing the prestressed cables, as well as a support grid of cantilever beams on the roof, from which the shimmering blue fabric made of polypropylene mesh is suspended.
Last Sunday the fabric panels were rolled out by more than 70 building climbers. In the last days, the distinctive red ropes have been added to “tie” the fabric over Paris’ landmark, as in Christo’s collage. Now no longer visible, the substructure provides the necessary protection for the monument. From Saturday, September 18, the monument is finally officially “opened”.
