A 250-ton metal arch, twice as tall as the statue of Jesus in Rio, will be over busy E411.
A Belgian road has been shown as the setting for what is advertised as the world’s tallest public art paintings, which, at 60 meters, will be twice as tall as the Statue of Jesus in Rio de Janeiro and taller than the Statue of Liberty.
Arc Majeur, a sturdy 250-ton metal structure, will sit atop busy E411 between the city of Namur and Luxembourg, a location selected in part because street lights won’t obstruct the driver’s view.
The sculpture is not expected to officially open until October, but the installation of its main sections will take place starting on the last night of August 10 at 6 a. m. the next day, he announced.
French artist Bernar Venet, who designed the arch, told The Guardian that while there were taller monuments dedicated to ancient figures, as purely artistic sculpture, the High Arch would be the tallest of its kind on the face of the world. nothing like it in the world,” Venet said. You can see it 3 km away. “
The €2. 5 million arch has had a turbulent history, two failed attempts to install it in France.
It was originally to be erected in 1984 near the town of Auxerre along the A6 leading to Paris, only to fall under a crusade through the local mayor despite the then French minister of culture, Jack Lang. “It was for non-public reasons,” Venet said of the success of the mayor’s veto.
Subsequent plans for the art to float on a road in Burgundy came to nothing after Venet rejected a proposal by the president of the French road branch to paint the metal red Corten. own,” Venet said.
Only after participating with Belgian mechanical engineering company CMI and its charitable base did the concept gain new momentum.
Venet said he traveled the roads of Belgium to locate the right spot before descending on a stretch of road near the village of Lavaux-Sainte-Anne on the outskirts of the city of Rochefort.
“There are street lighting luminaires all over Belgium,” Venet said. “But here, for 15 to 20 kilometers, there are no poles. The driving force will have plenty of time to notice it. The appeal of the sculpture is that other people do it. “Don’t stop looking at it. It will show up when other people are on the move, and they will pass by and leave.
The sculpture will consist of two arches, 28 meters and 60 meters high, which emerge from the ground on both sides of the street. Approximately 1,000 tons of concrete will be used to hold it in place. “It had to be natural nature embedded in the culture,” Venet added of his vision. The artist said that over time, there may be only two spaces on the side of the road for other people to see the structure.
Among Britain’s tallest independent artworks are ArcelorMittal Orbit (114. 5m) in London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park; Aspire Tower (60 m) on the Jubilee campus of the University of Nottingham; and Angel of the North (20m) through Antony Gormley at Gateshead.
The arch structure is largely funded by the John Cockerill Foundation, a philanthropic arm of CMI founded in Seraing, Belgium.
Venet has been described through Forbes magazine as one of France’s greatest living artists. “I came up with the concept in 1979 of two arches on a road,” he says. “I think it would be glorious to do that. It’s a dream for me
However, the artistic vision is likely to be lost for some motorists this summer. Until mid-October, only one lane will be open for those arriving in Belgium from Luxembourg and the road will be absolutely closed to traffic on the night of the sculptural installation. .
Véronique Sorlet, spokesperson for the John Cockerill Foundation, said: “The meeting reaches several stages by adding the welding of the 3 elements of the wonderful arc.
“Then we have to perform the ad hoc checks and install the ‘dynamic damper’, which reduces the movement of herbal vibration.
“Finally, a sandblasting cleaning operation will be carried out to standardize the [sculpture] at the same time as the earthworks to repair the site. We finished all this at the beginning of October.
In 2016, Venet built a 20-meter-high arch in a roundabout in Bonn, Germany, titled ARC ’89, to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. A transient arch 22 meters high was also installed. near the Palace of Versailles in 2011 in the face of some criticism.
The High Arch will be eclipsed in Europe by the statue of the Fatherland in the most sensitive Museum of the Great Patriotic War in Ukraine, 102 meters high, and the Sanctuary of Christ the King in Almada, Portugal, 110 meters high.
The world’s tallest monument, at 182 meters, will be a statue of India’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, in Gujarat.