‘Floating Piers’ by Christo and Jeanne-Claude Readies for its Public Debut

After more than 30 years of planning, the design for “Floating Piers,” by the Bulgarian-born artist Christo and his late wife and fellow artist, Jeanne-Claude, has been realized. From June 18 until July 3, visitors can enjoy walking on water (in a less-than-biblical sense) at Italy’s Lake Iseo—located in the northern part of the country at the base of the Italian Alps—by crossing the renowned artists’ 3-kilometer (about 1.8 miles) walkway, it is expecting a A half-million visitors to the site are expected for its duration, according to The Washington Post.

The massive installation, which is effectively a floating dock, runs from the lakeside town of Sulzano to the town of Peschiera Maraglio and on to the small island of San Paolo, which will be circled by the walkway. The path is wrapped with 100,000 meters of orange fabric. The bright material extends briefly into the aforementioned towns, as well.

Christo and his team brought in a slew of professional divers and construction workers to ensure that the 220,000 high-density, polyethylene cubes used to construct the modular dock would stay put. After being stored and anchored on-site, the divers plummeted 90 meters below the water’s surface to secure them to concrete bases with a specially engineered rope.

The pair had failed to get the permits to install the docks in other locations three decades ago. Since then, Christo, has worked to realize the design that he and his Jeanne-Claude, who passed in 2009, conceived together.