In the Olympic park in London, a giant Kapoor sculpture will rise

London - A giant steel structure will rise in the Olympic Park in east London, set to become not only an attraction for the Olympic Games in 2012 but also a landmark for this part of the British capital. This was announced today by London Mayor Boris Johnson and Indian steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, who will largely finance the construction.
    The largest sculpture in Britain was designed by one of the most prominent contemporary artists, Anish Kapoor. The structure, named ArcelorMittal Orbit, will be 115 meters tall, making it 15 meters taller than the Statue of Liberty in New York, Johnson said today.
    The sculpture, made of tube steel and composed of irregular loops, will feature an observation deck at the top, accessible by an elevator for 700 visitors per hour. They will be able to return down via a spiral staircase.
    The sculpture will cost £19.1 million (CZK 545 million). Of that, £16 million will be paid by Mittal, and the rest by London. It will stand in the southern part of the Olympic Park between the 59-meter tall main stadium and the swimming pool.
    "Our aim is for eastern London to have an astonishing attraction that people from all over the world will recognize long after the games are over,” said Boris Johnson.
    "This is a lifetime commission,” said the 56-year-old Kapoor, who comes from Mumbai but now lives and creates in Britain. He is the holder of the prestigious Turner Prize. His exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts was visited by 260,000 people last autumn. He collaborated with architect Cecil Balmond on the design of the Olympic structure.
    Lakshmi Mittal's fortune, which includes steel mills in the Czech Republic, is estimated by The Times at £10.8 billion (about CZK 308 billion).