STORY:
Millennium Dome Criticized

London's gigantic dome comes under serious scrutiny

A gigantic oversized mushroom of bad taste that’s what London’s Millennium Dome is being called as it nears completion.

The dome is suppose to be the center of millennium projects planned by the government for the Year 2000. Instead, the 758 Million-pound($1.2 Billion US) dome is being called an eyesore and a waste of money.

The dome has been under construction for months now and as it gets closer and closer to opening it is being called a giant mushroom or a huge flying saucer-shaped tent.

It is also being called the largest dome in the world as it measures in at 50 meters high(160 feet) covering 80,000 square meters.

The dome is the center of a project that aims to be "the most spectacular millennial event anywhere in the world." The new structure will host Prime Minister Tony Blair and Queen Elizabeth on New Year’s Eve. It will open to the public on January 1.

A top British tourism official was given a private tour of the dome and came out less than pleased. John Outram called the structure "a horrendous mess" and said it was badly laid out. Top architects seem to agree with that description.

"Because so much is stuffed inside, you get no sense of the scale of it" Joanna van Heyningen told the Agence France Presse.

Architect Richard Rodgers, who designed the dome, said he would have preferred the inside of the dome to remain empty and another designer threw in the towel rather than be associated with the "vulgar" enterprise.

It’s not just the outside of the dome that’s getting criticized, the inside is under scrutiny too. Inside visitors will be able to tour a sound and light display of the body, a hollow statue 18 meters (60 feet) high, to the tune of deafening heart beats accompanied by stomach rumblings.

The public and even the British newspapers are ridiculing the concept. At first the "body" was that of a man. But in an effort to be politically correct, the sculptor modified it to show a couple embracing. The figures are incomplete and show a man’s trunk and a woman’s legs. Now the question arises how do you enter and exit from the "body". It was decided that visitors would enter via the man’s elbow and exit by one of the woman’s heels.

The "body" is covered with 60,000 pink, yellow and black tiles. Another attempt at being politically correct, the designer wanted to represent all skin colors.

If that has your attention then get ready to shell out 20 pounds ( $32.48 US) to get inside.

Source: Agence France Presse

DATE: 12/9/99

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