Christmas is now a distant memory and there's a bit of an auld stretch in the evenings which can only mean one thing. Paddy's Day is just around the corner.
Tourism Ireland today announced details of the 2018 'Global Greening' which will see over 300 stadiums, statues, museums and towers turn green to celebrate our national day on March 17.
Making their Global Greening debuts this year will be the iconic Space Needle in Seattle, Chimo the Polar Bear statue in Ontario, the fountains in London’s Trafalgar Square and the San Mamés stadium which is home to Spanish football club Athletic Bilbao. Greening up for the first time since 2014 will be the famous Sydney Opera House in Australia.
Other new sites and buildings for 2018 include the Wawa Goose monument in Ontario and the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat (also in Ontario), the National Football Museum in Manchester, the Palais de l’Europe (the seat of the Council of Europe) in Strasbourg among a host of others.
The newbies will be joining old favourites such as the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Sacré-Cœur Basilica and the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland in Paris, the Sky Tower in Auckland, Niagara Falls and the London Eye.
Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said:
“This is the ninth year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative and each year I am delighted to see even more well-known attractions and landmark sites wishing to get involved and join our St Patrick’s celebrations. The success of our Global Greening initiative is due in no small part to the great work that has been carried out across the world by Irish people and the Diaspora. I would particularly like to thank the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade for the great support we receive from the Irish embassy network.
Mr. Gibbons went on to speak of the huge numbers of people around the world who celebrate and identify with St. Patrick's Day, and how March 17 offers them a chance to reconnect with the nation of Ireland:
"The eagerness of cities and countries everywhere to take part underlines the strength of the deep connection that people all over the world feel to Ireland. More than 70 million people around the world claim links to the island of Ireland and St Patrick’s Day is a truly unique opportunity to reconnect them with their heritage.
“People across the world instantly identify St Patrick’s Day with the island of Ireland and that heightened profile allows us to put the Ireland holiday experience in the spotlight – from Sydney to Seattle and from Rome to Rio de Janeiro. Our St Patrick’s programme this year will span Great Britain, Mainland Europe, North America, Australia, as well as emerging tourism markets such as China and India."
The full list of Global Greenings can be read below with first-time greenings marked with a (*).
(take a deep breath...)
Great Britain
London Eye
Heron Tower, London
Nelson’s Column, London
Selfridges, London
Selfridges, Birmingham
Selfridges, Manchester
Trafalgar Square fountains, London *
National Football Museum, Manchester *
Town Hall clock, Manchester
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Newcastle upon Tyne
North America United States
Empire State Building, New York
Wells Fargo building, Albuquerque
Chicago Board of Trade building
Civic Opera House, Chicago
Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago
John Hancock Center, Chicago
Novak Construction, Chicago
Navy Pier, Chicago
One Prudential Plaza, Chicago
Soldier Field, Chicago
State Street, Chicago
Wrigley Building, Chicago
Harbor Bridge, Corpus Christi *
Omni Dallas Hotel
Reunion Tower, Dallas
City Hall, Denver
City Hall, Houston
Junction Bridge pedestrian walkway and Main Street bridge, Little Rock
City Hall, San Francisco
Coit Tower, San Francisco
Space Needle, Seattle *
Canada
Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides)
Casa Loma, Toronto
City Hall, Toronto
The Distillery District, Toronto
Calgary Tower, Calgary
Chimo the polar bear, Cochrane *
Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat *
Cochrane sign *
Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa
Cabot Tower on Signal Hill, St John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador
The Big Nickel, Sudbury
The Wawa Goose *
Mainland Europe Austria
Burgtheater, Vienna• Kunsthistorisches Museum (Art History Museum), Vienna *
Naturhistorisches Museum (Natural History Museum), Vienna *
Wiener Riesenrad (ferris wheel), Vienna
Bergiselschanze (ski jump), Innsbruck
Belgium
Grand Place, Brussels
Manneken Pis statue, Brussels (“dressed” in Irish costume)
Town Hall, Dinant *
Celtic Cross, Fontenoy
Belfry, Mons
Croatia
Onofrio Fountain, Dubrovnik *
Cyprus
Municipal Town Hall, Nicosia
Denmark
Nimb Hotel, Copenhagen *
Radisson Blu Royal Hotel, Copenhagen
Estonia
Vabaduse Väljak (Freedom Square), Tallinn *
Finland
Ice skating rink, Oulu *
France
Sacré-Cœur Basilica, Paris
Beaugrenelle (shopping centre), Paris *
BHV Marais (Bazar de l'Hôtel de Ville – department store), Paris
Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris
Château de la Muette (headquarters of the OECD), Paris
Galeries Lafayette, Paris
Irish Embassy, Paris
Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland® Paris
University of Angers – ESTHUA, Angers *
Hôtel de Ville, Cannes
La Croisette, Cannes
La Tour du Suquet, Cannes
Musée de la Castre, Cannes
Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes
Tapis rouge lumineux (red carpet), Cannes
Secondary school, Châteaudun *
Hôtel de Ville, Grandvilliers
Hôtel de Ville, Mellac
Hôtel de Ville, Royan *
Hôtel de Ville, Saint-Mandé
Palais de l’Europe (seat of the Council of Europe), Strasbourg *
Germany
Lighthouse building, Düsseldorf
Altes Rathaus, Gescher
McKiernan's Irish Café, Gescher
‘Fridolin’ the carp statue, Höchstadt an der Aisch
Allianz Arena, Munich
BMW Welt, Munich
Heidecksburg Castle, Rudolstadt
Königsbau, Stuttgart *
Neumünster church, Würzburg
Rathaus (Town Hall), Würzburg
Hungary
Müpa Budapest
Tüskecsarnok (indoor arena), Budapest
Italy
Colosseum, Rome
Leaning Tower of Pisa
Il Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick’s Well), Orvieto
Torre del Moro, Orvieto *
The Netherlands
SkyLounge Amsterdam *
Splendor Amsterdam
Uilenburgersjoel Amsterdam *
DOT, Groningen *
Euromast, Rotterdam *
SkyView Scheveningen Pier, The Hague
Windmill, Weert
Norway
Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel, Oslo *
Poland
Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw
Spodek (arena), Katowice
Galeria Echo (shopping centre), Kielce
Father Bernatek (Kladka Bernatka) footbridge, Kraków
Lipska Street flyover, Kraków
Tauron Arena, Kraków
Archaeological Museum, Poznań *
Bishop Jordan Bridge, Poznań *
Grand Theatre, Poznań *
Raczyński Library, Poznań
City Hall, Toruń *
Bank Zachodni WBK headquarters, Wroclaw
Centennial Hall, Wroclaw
Grunwaldzki Bridge, Wroclaw
National Museum, Wroclaw *
Opera House, Wroclaw *
University Bridge, Wroclaw
University of Wroclaw *
Portugal
Santuario Nacional de Cristo Rei (Christ the King statue), Lisbon
Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães, Cascais
Serbia
Ada Bridge (Most na Adi), Belgrade
Palace Albanija, Belgrade
Hotel Moskva, Belgrade
Canadian Embassy, Belgrade
Glavna Pošta (main post office), Belgrade *
Hotel Park, Belgrade
House of the National Assembly of Serbia Narodna Skupstina, Belgrade
Spain
Tower of Hércules, A Coruña, Galicia
San Mamés stadium, Bilbao *
Marbella arches
Tortosa town *
Sweden
Vasa warship, Stockholm
Switzerland
The Rhine Falls, near Zurich
Australia and New Zealand Australia
Sydney Opera House
Hyde Park Barracks, Sydney
Town Hall, Sydney
The Big Kangaroo, Border Village
The Bell Tower, Perth
Council House, Perth
Elizabeth Quay, Perth
New Zealand
Sky Tower, Auckland
Christchurch Airport
Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington
Emerging Markets Brazil
Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro
Torre de TV Digital, Brasília
Torre da Globo (Globo TV Tower), São Paulo
Catedral de Pedra de Canela, Canela, Rio Grande do Sul *
