The ArcelorMittal Orbit tower opens

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The ArcelorMittal Orbit tower opens

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Steel sculpture in the heart of the Olympic Park opened to visitors.

12 May,2012 04:36 am

The ArcelorMittal Orbit tower, a steel sculpture 114 metres high, was opened to visitors on Friday in the Olympic park of east London, just over two months before the Olympic Games begin.London Mayor Boris Johnson repeated how he had encountered steel magnate Lakshami Mittal, chairman of ArcelorMittal the worlds largest steelmaker, at a washroom in Davros, Switzerland.I said look we need something in the Olympic park that gave a sign of the confidence of London, a city coming out of recession, the stuff we can do, a way of bringing people to east London, bringing tourists, bringing visitors to buy and live here, and he got it immediately and after a while we got this, said Johnson.Mittal said he had agreed as long as the project used his steel but he was thinking about a more modest structure.We got into a discussion and we began scribbling what sort of sculpture we should make. From a 20-30 metre height we ended with a 114-metre sculpture, he said with a smile.The sculpture features three or four different helixes, bands or walkways and also doubles as an observation tower. It gives views over the Olympic stadium and park as well as towards the river Thames, the Canary Wharf development of Docklands and towards Londons West End.The structure has been described as a construction toy, a crazy helter-skelter (tornado slide) and a mutant trombone.