SOME OF THE world’s most famous landmarks and iconic sites across the world are set to go green for St Patrick’s Day next month.

For the first time ever, the Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil; the Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx in Egypt; the famous ‘Welcome’ sign in Las Vegas and the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen will all go green on 17 March.

Other newcomers include the HMS Belfast in London; City Hall in Houston, Texas; the Citadel in Jordan; the Tower of Hercules in Galicia in Spain; the futuristic new EYE Film Institute in Amsterdam; the International School in Bonn and the Allianz Arena in Munich (home ground of FC Bayern Munich).

(Tourism Ireland)

They will join a host of other major landmarks and iconic sites around the world in Tourism Ireland’s annual ‘global greening’ initiative, including the Sydney Opera House; Niagara Falls; the Leaning Tower of Pisa; the Prince’s Palace of Monaco; Burj al Arab in Dubai; Table Mountain in South Africa; the Empire State Building in New York; Burg Theater (City Hall) in Vienna; the Sky Tower in New Zealand and the TV tower in Berlin’s Alexanderplatz.

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar said the icons to list are a “major coup” for Irish tourism. He added that they would be using the “opportunity to send out the message that Ireland is the place to visit in 2013”.

(Tourism Ireland)

Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said: “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 London and Stockholm to Las Vegas. Our St Patrick’s programme will span Great Britain, Mainland Europe, North America, Australia, as well as developing markets such as China, India and South Africa.”

Read: Calls to make St. Patrick’s Day a national holiday in the US >