1.3 million people visited Christ's installation at the Italian lake

Rome - The latest installation by conceptual artist Christo, which connected the towns at Lake Iseo in northern Italy with floating colored pontoons for two weeks, was a huge success among visitors - a total of over 1.3 million people walked across it. This was reported today by the ANSA agency. During the ceremonial conclusion on Sunday, people dressed in white created a 4.5-kilometer-long human chain as a tribute to the Bulgarian-born artist. Now, portions of the installation are being dismantled, and some are already being sold on the auction site eBay.

The floating walkway on the surface of the lake was made from 200,000 polyethylene cubes covered with bright orange-yellow nylon fabric. It connected the towns of Sulzano and the island of Monte Isola, allowing people to walk across dry land for the first time.

The new project by the American artist quickly became a major attraction after its opening on June 18. An average of 70,000 people walked on the pontoons daily, and the number of visitors increased even before the path closed. For example, last Thursday, according to the head of the local prefecture, Valerio Valenti, around 107,000 people visited Sulzano.

"This place has experienced an absolutely incredible tourism boom. The images of Lake Iseo have been seen by the whole world. We are grateful to Christo for this incredible experience because it will have a lasting positive impact on our community," said the mayor of the island town of Monte Isola, Fiorello Turla. "People who came to Lake Iseo experienced something that happens only once in a lifetime," stated the eighty-one-year-old Christo.

Souvenirs in the form of pieces of fabric used on the pontoons can now be bid on by people from around the world. They are currently being offered for around 50 euros per piece, but prices are expected to rise, according to the APA agency.

Artist Christo became famous in an artistic duo with his late wife Jeanne-Claude. After her death in 2009, he did not create any major works for a long time. He last attracted attention with the project The Gates, which was displayed in Central Park, New York, in 2005. Together with his wife, he erected 7,500 gates nearly five meters high along 37 kilometers of pathways through the park, adorned with strips of orange-yellow fabric.

Throughout his career, Christo became especially known for his "wrapping" projects, where he covered skyscrapers, parts of the Australian coastline, the Aurelian Walls in Rome, live trees, the Pont Neuf bridge in Paris (1985), and the Reichstag in Berlin (1995) with fabric.