This major New York landmark is joining the world in going green for St. Patrick’s Day

One World Trade Center in New York, City Hall and Heron Tower in London, Plaça de Catalunya in Barcelona and Cloth Hall in Ypres will join Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening for St. Patrick’s Day 2017, for the first time. A full list of the historic buildings, stadiums, statues, castles, and towers around the world which will be lit up in green for St. Patrick’s Day has been released.

The tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, One World Trade Center in New York – the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex – is the biggest coup for Tourism Ireland’s initiative this year.

It’s a phrase that tends to be used too often but considering the island of Ireland only has a population of 6.4 million we really do punch above our weight and this is never most visible than on St. Patrick’s Day.

The new sites will join some ‘old favourites’ which have gone green in previous years – including the London Eye, Nelson’s Column in London, the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Burj al Arab in Dubai, the Roue de Paris, the ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas, Niagara Falls, the Empire State Building in New York, the Sky Tower in New Zealand and the Great Wall of China.

This year Chicago will be going all out to celebrate St Patrick and Ireland once again this year, with numerous buildings and sites across the city set to light up green – including Navy Pier, the John Hancock Center, the Wrigley Building, the Civic Opera House, One Prudential Plaza and Chicago Gaelic Park.

The new landmarks for 2017 include:

- One World Trade Center

- City Hall in London

- Heron Tower in London

- Plaça de Catalunya

- The fountains on Gran Via in Barcelona

- Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick’s Well) in Orvieto

- The four principal monuments in the town of Cosenza (Calabria)

- City Hall in Antwerp (a UNESCO World Heritage Site)

- The Cloth Hall in Ypres

- Matsue Castle in Japan

- Gwangandaegyo (Diamond Bridge) in South Korea

-  AA rhino statue in Nairobi National Park

- An Ethiopian Airlines airplane in Addis Ababa

-  The red carpet in Cannes (le tapis rouge lumineux)

Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, Joe McHugh TD, said "The willingness and desire of so many to be involved in celebrating our national day is symbolic of the great friendship and respect that exists between Ireland and so many countries around the world and demonstrates the uniqueness of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations. The celebrations allow us to deepen existing friendships, to strengthen awareness of Ireland and our rich heritage and to forge new ties.

“Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening creates a visual calling card, a reminder of home to our Diaspora spread across the globe and sparks the interest of those as of yet unfamiliar with the great heritage that our national day celebrates. As Minister of State for the Diaspora, I know that the “greenings” bring great pride to Irish people overseas and reflect the warm regard in which Ireland and its people are held around the world.”  

Here is a full list of those landmarks around the world going green for St. Patrick’s Day:

United Kingdom

- London Eye

- Nelson’s Column, London

- Heron Tower, London *

- City Hall, London *

- Selfridges, London

- Selfridges, Birmingham

- Trafford Centre, Manchester

North America - United States

- One World Trade Center (formerly Freedom Tower), New York *

- Empire State Building, New York

- Aisling Irish Community Center, New York

- Civic Opera House, Chicago

- Chicago Gaelic Park

- Irish American Heritage Center, Chicago *

- John Hancock Center, Chicago

- Navy Pier, Chicago

- Novak Construction, Chicago

- One Prudential Plaza, Chicago

- Sheraton Grand Chicago

- State Street, Chicago

- Wrigley Building, Chicago

- ‘Welcome’ sign, Las Vegas

- City Hall, San Francisco

- Pacific Science Center, Seattle

Canada

- Niagara Falls (on both the Canadian and US sides)

- Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa

- The Distillery District, Toronto

- Whistler (ski resort)

Mainland Europe

Austria

- Wiener Riesenrad (Giant Ferris Wheel), Vienna

- Bergisel Sprungschanze Stadion (ski jump), Innsbruck

Belgium

- Manneken Pis statue, Brussels (“dressed” in Irish costume)

- City Hall, Antwerp *

- Cloth Hall, Ypres *

- Town Hall, Mons

Finland

- Irish Ice Fishing Championship, Tampere *

- Restaurant RantaCasino, Heinola

Croatia

- Bandić fountains, Zagreb *

Cyprus

- Municipal Town Hall, Nicosia

France

- Roue de Paris, Tuileries Gardens, Paris

- Irish Embassy, Paris

- Tapis rouge lumineux (red carpet), Cannes *

- L’Hôtel de Ville, Cannes

- La Croisette, Cannes

- Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, Cannes

- Tour de la Castre au Suquet, Cannes

Germany

- Neumünster church, Würzburg

- Rathaus (Town Hall), Würzburg

Italy

- Colosseum, Rome

- Leaning Tower of Pisa

- Pozzo di San Patrizio (St Patrick’s Well), Orvieto *

- Teatro Alfonso Rendano (Rendano Theatre), Cosenza *

- Castello Normanno-Svevo (Swabian Norman Castle), Cosenza *

- Municipio (Town Hall), Cosenza *

- Fontane Danzanti (Dancing Fountains), Cosenza *

Latvia

- Riga City Council

Poland

- Palace of Culture and Science, Warsaw

- University Bridge, Bydgoszcz

- Spodek (arena), Katowice *

- Galeria Echo (shopping centre), Kielce

- Father Bernatek (Kladka Bernatka) footbridge, Kraków

- Lipska Street flyover, Kraków

- Tauron Arena, Kraków

- Arena Lublin

- Ratusz (Town Hall), Poznań

- Stadion Wroclaw

- Ratusz (Town Hall), Rzeszów

Portugal

- National Sanctuary of Cristo Rei (Christ the King statue), Lisbon

- Museu Condes de Castro Guimarães, Cascais

The Netherlands

- Windmill, Weert

Romania

- Sheraton Hotel, Bucharest *

Slovakia

- Radisson Blu Carlton Hotel, Bratislava

Spain

- Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona *

- Fountains on Gran Via, Barcelona *

- City Council, Murcia *

Switzerland

- The Rhine Falls, near Zurich

Australia and New Zealand

Australia

- Town Hall, Sydney

- State Library of New South Wales, Sydney

- Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), Brisbane

- Perth Airport *

- The Bell Tower, Perth

- Council House, Perth

- Elizabeth Quay, Perth

- State Library of Victoria, Melbourne

New Zealand

- Sky Tower, Auckland

Emerging markets

Brazil

- Christ the Redeemer statue, Rio de Janeiro

- Sede da FIESP (headquarters of Federação das Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo), São Paulo *

China

- Great Wall of China

Ethiopia

- Ethiopian Airlines Airbus A350, Addis Ababa *

Israel

- Water Tower, Ramat Gan (near Tel Aviv) *

Japan

- Torii of the Ise Grand Shrine, Ise, Mie Prefecture

- Matsue Castle, Matsue

The Global Greening 2017 is Tourism Ireland’s first major promotional drive for 2017 to grow overseas tourism in 2017. The annual initiative, which sees a host of major landmarks around the world turn green for St Patrick’s Day, has grown from strength to strength, with lots of new landmarks signing up to take part this year.

Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said “This is the eighth year of Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening initiative …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 down the generations and, in particular, to the great support we’ve received from the Irish embassy network and the Diaspora.

“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 Auckland to London and from Rome to Rio de Janeiro. Our St Patrick’s program this year will span Great Britain, Mainland Europe, North America, Australia, as well as emerging tourism markets such as China and India. There will be saturation coverage of the island of Ireland across the airwaves, in newspapers and digital media – and that’s an invaluable boost at this time of year for our overall tourism marketing drive for 2017."

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