World famous landmarks join St Patrick's celebrations

Selfies at the greened Leaning Tower of Pisa, as part of Tourism Irelands annual Global Greening initiative.

Tourism Ireland's annual '˜global greening' St Patrick's Day initiative will this year see 290 major international landmarks take on an unfamiliar hue.

The patron saint is being honoured from Rome to Rio and from London to Las Vegas, as host of buildings and sites around the world turn green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day.

New sites taking part in 2018 include the Luxur Obélisque at the centre of the Place de la Concorde in Paris, the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in New York, Tower 42 (the third-tallest skyscraper in the City of London), a giant Blue Whale skeleton in the Natural History Museum in London, the Emirates Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, the Nimb Hotel in Copenhagen, the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao, The Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, the Lille Gate in Ypres in Belgium (one of several entrances into the old fortified city), the Lapland Hotels SnowVillage in Finland, and Zhongyuan Tower (a 388-metre tall steel tower in Zhengzhou, in Henan province, in China).

The newcomers are joined by some ‘old favourites’ which have gone green in previous years – including the Sydney Opera House, the London Eye, the Colosseum, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Great Wall of China, Niagara Falls, the TV Tower in Tbilisi, Navy Pier in Chicago and the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro.

The Tourism Ireland initiative has gone from strength to strength – from its beginning in 2010, with just the Sydney Opera House and the Sky Tower in Auckland going green, to this year, with around 290 sites in 48 countries taking part.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “This is the ninth year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative and it’s bigger and better than ever this year, with some wonderful new additions like the Luxur Obélisque in Paris, the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao, Tower 42 in London and the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge in New York.

“St Patrick’s Day traditionally marks the real start of the tourism season for us; our aim is to bring a smile to the faces of people around the world and to convey the message that Ireland offers the warmest of welcomes and great fun, as well as wonderful scenery and heritage.”

Mr Gibbons added: “Our St Patrick’s programme spans mainland Europe, North America, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand, as well as emerging tourism markets like China and the Middle East. We are using every opportunity to capitalise on Ireland’s heightened profile this week; the saturation coverage about the island of Ireland across the global airwaves, in newspapers and digital media, is an invaluable boost for our overall 2018 tourism promotional drive.”

• The full list of landmarks involved in the global greening initiative 2018

Note: first time ‘greenings’ marked *

Great Britain

Blue Whale skeleton in the Natural History Museum, London *

Tower 42, London *

London Eye

· Heron Tower, London

Nelson’s Column, London

· Selfridges, London

· Selfridges, Birmingham

· Trafalgar Square fountains, London *

· National Football Museum, Manchester *

· Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne

Emirates Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth *

SEC Armadillo, Glasgow

SSE Hydro, Glasgow

North America

United States

· Empire State Building, New York

Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (Tappan Zee Bridge), New York *

· One World Trade Center, New York

Aisling Irish Community Center, New York

Wells Fargo building, Albuquerque

· 360 Residential Condominiums tower, Austin

· City Hall, Cedar Park

· Chicago Board of Trade building

· Civic Opera House, Chicago