Christo's 'The Floating Piers' in pictures

Fiorella Turla, the mayor of Sulzano, is very pleased. From June 18 to July 3, the tiny village in northern Italy is expecting some 800,000 visitors, all coming to see and experience "The Floating Piers" by American artist Christo. Three kilometers (1.9 miles) of piers connect Sulzano with two nearby islands on Lake Iseo.

Visitors to "The Floating Piers" don't have to pay a fee. Christo wants everyone to experience his art and isn't interested in commercialization. The work, which cost as much as 13 million euros (over $14 million), was financed by the sale of his sketches and photos. In this way, Christo remains independent of sponsors.

The mayor calls "The Floating Piers" the "miracle of Christo." The 16-meter wide (over 52-foot) piers are fixed onto swimming pontoons, allowing visitors to walk from the mainland to the inslands of Monte Isola and San Paolo. It's a temporary replacement for the ferry, which normally transports Monte Isola's 2,000 residents to shore.

Christo had developed the project with his wife, Jeanne-Claude, who passed away in 2009. An installation that makes it possible to walk on water was an idea Christo had in the 1970s. However, he didn't receive a permit to realize the project in his locations of choice: Argentina and Japan. But Lake Iseo in northern Italy proved an ideal alternative.

Material Made in Germany: The textile company Setex in Hamminkeln in Germany created the shimmering nylon fabric stretched across the piers. Some 90 square kilometers (nearly 35 square miles) of material were needed to cover not only the three meters of piers, but also the streets in Sulzano and the surrounding villages.

The company geo-Die Luftwerker in Lübeck had one year to prepare rolls of fabric, which were five meters long and weighed 200 kilos (440 pounds). Simply storing and transporting them was a challenge. To move the fabric, special extra thick bags were needed. Two hundred of those bags were transported by truck to Sulzano.

Since the fabric is so heavy, two people had to work each sewing machine when sewing them. An ultrasound laser was used to make sure the cuts were precise. At the pontoons, a special machine was used to sew the individual pieces together.

Christo's gigantic installation is not only an impressive work of art, but also a logistical challenge for everyone involved. Christo also had 220,000 floating cubes made out of polyethylene. They were used to form a three-kilometer bridge and covered with the fabric in a final step.

Pictured here, Christo is seen testing his pier in October 2015. He seems particularly pleased that it's possible to feel the movement of the water when standing on the pontoons.

The fabric has been stretched over the pontoons and the work is ready for visitors. On June 18, guests will be invited onto the golden bridge and be able to feel the water under their feet too. Up to 20,000 can walk simultaneously on "The Floating Piers." The only condition is good weather.