Landmarks have been lit green for Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening Initiative since 2010.
The campaign, also known as “Going Green for St Patrick’s Day,” began by illuminating famous landmarks in green to promote Ireland and its national holiday internationally. The Sydney Opera House and Auckland’s Sky Tower were among the first prominent landmarks to participate.
The initiative turned a colour strongly associated with Ireland into a global publicity tradition. Green lighting is generally temporary and timed around 17 March, Saint Patrick’s feast day. It is not the same as the much older custom of wearing green clothing or shamrocks, which developed through Irish cultural and political history.
Tourism Ireland’s campaign expanded rapidly. The Saint Patrick’s Day tradition is now visible far beyond Ireland, with public buildings, bridges, monuments and other landmarks joining in across many countries. Participation can vary from year to year, so the number of illuminated sites is not fixed.
A common mix-up is to place the beginning of the green-lighting campaign in the nineteenth century, when Irish nationalism helped popularise green. The landmark initiative itself is a modern tourism campaign dating from 2010.