Christo’s latest project: an oil barrel pyramid for the Emirates

SAINT-PAUL, France (AFP) – In a break with their usual temporary installations, the artist Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude on Saturday unveiled a plan to build a giant pyramid of oil barrels in the desert of the United Arab Emirates.

“The Emirates is very keen to see this project realized,” Christo said at a presentation of models and drawings for the 150-metre (500-foot) monument, roughly two thirds of the height of the Eiffel Tower.

The idea for the pyramid, with a flat summit, made up of 390,500 oil barrels piled up horizontally, dates back to the 1960s, the artists said. Two earlier attempts to erect it in Texas and the Netherlands came to nothing before the couple decided to turn to the UAE.

But then the Iran-Iraq war put the project on hold. It was only revived two and a half years ago.

AFP