Colosseum and Sacre-Coeur to go green for St Patrick’s Day

The Colosseum in Rome, the Sacré-Cœur in Paris and the leaning tower of Pisa are among the world famous locations going green for St Patrick’s Day as part of Tourism Ireland’s annual Global Greening initiative.

The other sites going green include the Niagara Falls, the London Eye, Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro and Sleeping Beauty’s castle at Disneyland Paris.

Other locations to be green-lit for the first time include Porte de Bourgogne in Bordeaux, the Jumeirah Etihad Towers hotel, Abu Dhabi, the Town Halls of Munich and Bamberg, the Christ the King statue in Lisbon, the Fram polar exploration ship in Oslo and City Hall in Tbilisi.

Minister for Transport and Tourism Paschal Donohoe said the global greening will help raise awareness of Ireland as a visitor destination in key overseas markets.

“The success of the Global Greening from a tourism perspective is in the volume of media coverage that is generated, with images of the greened landmarks forming part of prime-time news broadcasts on stations around the world, and images of the greened venues appearing in print and online publications and being widely shared on social media,” he said.

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland chief executive, said the addition of the Colosseum in Rome, one of the most famous monuments in the world, “is a major coup for Irish tourism.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Charlie Flanagan said: “In addition to the obvious tourism and economic benefits which accrue from the greenings, it is very important to stress that the greening of iconic sites around the world is an enormous source of pride to people here in Ireland and to our diaspora overseas.