London’s Gets a Floating Egyptian Tomb

A 20-metre high sculpture of an ancient Egyptian tomb, made from 7,506 red, white and mauve barrels, has taken temporary residence amid the aquatic wildlife on a lake in London’s Hyde Park.

Bulgarian-born artist Christo unveiled the floating installation -featuring two vertical sides, two slanted sides and a flat top - yesterday.

‘The colours will transform with the changes in the light and its reflection on the Serpentine Lake will be like an abstract painting.”

Work started in April to stack the 55-gallon barrels into their cut-off pyramid shape on a floating platform 40 metres long and 30 metres wide. Thirty-two anchors hold the structure in place.

Christo and his wife Jeanne Claude, who died in 2009, are known for such works as “The Gates”, a 2005 installation in New York’s Central Park, and the wrapping of the Reichstag.