Saturday 17 March 2012

Green for St Patrick's Day

The Palace of Culture was one of 31 iconic landmarks around the world to be illuminated in green to mark St. Patrick's day, joining the Leaning Tower of Pisa, Sydney Opera House, Brussels Town Hall, the London Eye and Table Mountain. This was a global initiative by Tourism Ireland to promote the country abroad. Poznań's new football stadium, where Ireland will be playing in the first round of the forthcoming Euro 2012 football championships, was also lit up in green.

Today the temperature topped 20C, the town was bursting with people delighted by the warmth and sunshine; spring is tuż tuż, though looking at my blog for past years, winter can yet make an unwelcome return at any time between now and early May.

The palace in green was something I had to photograph! I was in town this afternoon with my Canadian cousin Adam, and after taking in Nowy Świat, Krakowskie Przedmieście, the Old Town and New Town, we popped by the Palace.

Sadly, as befits most public sector operations, the viewing gallery on the 3oth floor closes at 18:00, robbing tourists of the chance to see the city at night from one of its highest vantage points. It also robs the city of a useful revenue-earner as I'm sure ticket office takings would far exceed staff costs, especially on summer evenings. Ale im się nie chce.

Left: the Palace of Culture yesterday, illuminated in its more usual lavender.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

St. Patrick's Day is not popular in Poland but it's nice that the building was lit up in green. Very good photo!