French artist to unveil massive motorway artwork

A French artist is set to unveil one of the world's largest works of art on a major road in Belgium - some 35 years after it had been originally commissioned as a piece of motorway art for France.

The 60m Arc Majeur, which has been designed by internationally renowned Bernar Venet, will be higher than the Statue of Liberty, and twice the height of Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer.

ARC MAJEUR from meta-morphosis on Vimeo.

The work is being built on the E411 between Namur and Luxembourg, near the village of Lavaux-Sainte-Anne - a location chosen because views of the sculpture are not obstructed by any other man-made object.

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"There are higher monuments in the world, but no larger sculpture made by an artist," the spokesman for artist said.

The €2.5million construction has been made with 250 tonnes of steel. Installation will begin on August 10, and the final structure will be officially unveiled in October.

The work was first commissioned in 1984 by former French minister Jack Lang, during the first of his two periods as Minister of Culture - and had been intended to be installed near Auxerre.