Christo’s Wrapped Arc de Triomphe Set for Moment of Glory

It couldn’t be done during their lifetimes. But about 60 years after artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude first dreamed of it, their art project of wrapping Paris’s landmark Arc de Triomphe monument in cloth will be completed this weekend.

Wrapping the Napoleonic-era arc in 25,000 square meters of silvery-blue polypropylene fabric -- recyclable and tethered with 3,000 meters of red rope -- cost 14 million euros ($16.6 million) and involved more than 1,000 people.