Landmarks That Turn Green for St Patrick’s Day (and How It All Started)

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Every March the world turns a funny shade of green. The Sydney Opera House glows like a lime. The Colosseum looks like it’s been at the crème de menthe. Even a polar bear statue in the Arctic gets the treatment.

Most of it comes from one small Irish idea, Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening. The Chicago River is a different story, an older one, and it has plumbers in it.

Jump to:

• What is Global Greening?
• How it started: Sydney, 2010
• How it works, and what it costs
• How big has it got?
• Famous landmarks that turn green for St Patrick’s Day
• Ireland goes green too
• Why the Chicago River is dyed green
• How to see it and follow it
• Why green, and not blue?
• Global Greening FAQ
• More St Patrick’s Day reading

What is Global Greening?

Global Greening is Tourism Ireland’s campaign to light famous buildings and sites green for St Patrick’s Day. Tourism Ireland is the agency that markets the whole island of Ireland overseas.

A landmark glows green, people take photos, and Ireland gets free publicity in the one week it matters most.

Tourism Ireland said in 2021 that more than 70 million people worldwide claim links to the island of Ireland. A green Opera House is a gentle nudge to every one of them to come home for a visit.

How it started: Sydney, 2010

Global Greening began on 17 March 2010, when the Sydney Opera House went green.

The date mattered. As RTÉ reported in 2020, it was 200 years since Governor Lachlan Macquarie held a St Patrick’s Day reception for the Irish in New South Wales.

Auckland’s Sky Tower went green the same year. The Irish Post and the trade paper Travel Extra both describe 2010 as a start with just two global sites.

Mind you, AP reported the London Eye, the CN Tower and the Empire State Building in green that day too. Tourism Ireland’s own plan for 2010 named them as well. So the count depends on who’s doing the counting. Let’s just say the Opera House led the way.

How it works, and what it costs

Tourism Ireland doesn’t own a single one of these landmarks. It asks nicely.

It works through its own overseas offices and through Ireland’s embassies and consulates, run by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Irish communities abroad help too, by lobbying local councils and building owners.

By marketing standards it’s cheap. In 2017, Fora.ie reported that Tourism Ireland spent about €25,000 on it in 2016. Niall Gibbons, its chief executive, said it was worth at least €10 million in publicity.

By 2019 the bill had grown to €49,000, according to RTÉ. Gibbons called it one of the agency’s most cost-effective marketing platforms. With the Pyramids lit green for that money, it’s hard to argue.

How big has it got?

It grew fast, as Irish news and trade reports show.

• 2010: the Sydney Opera House leads the way, with Auckland’s Sky Tower close behind.
• 2012: over 30 landmarks on six continents (ITTN, 2012).
• 2013: nearly 70 sites (ITTN, 2013).
• 2014: over 100 sites (Irish Post and the government’s Merrion Street news service, 2014).
• 2019: the 10th year, with 475 sites in more than 45 countries (RTÉ, 2020).
• 2021: the record. The Irish Post counted 690 sites in 66 countries on the day. Tourism Ireland later gave a final count of 725 in 71 countries (IrishCentral, 2022).

That 2021 figure is the latest final count from Tourism Ireland that I can find. Even in 2020, more than 300 sites had signed up before Covid cancelled the parades (RTÉ, 2020).

The pause, and the return

Then the promotion stopped. In 2022 the government and Tourism Ireland chose not to promote it, out of respect for Ukraine, as the Irish Times reported in 2023.

In 2023 it wasn’t promoted because of the energy crisis (Irish Post, 2023). Floodlighting monuments while Europe worried about heating bills would not have looked well.

Communities kept greening on their own anyway. In 2025, Tourism Ireland said it was supporting greenings again, this time with selected landmarks.

Travel Extra called 2026 the 17th Global Greening and counted more than 400 places. Tourism Ireland’s own release that year gave no total, so treat that as a press figure.

Tourism Ireland’s chief executive, Alice Mansergh, called the greenings “a wonderful symbol of the deep connections we share around the world” (Tourism Ireland, 2026).

Famous landmarks that turn green for St Patrick’s Day

Hundreds of sites have taken part. Here are the famous ones and a few oddballs, with the first year each went green where known.

Australia and New Zealand

Sydney Opera House, Australia
The one that started it all, in 2010.

Sky Tower, Auckland, New Zealand
Green since 2010 and still on Tourism Ireland’s lists in 2025 and 2026.

The Big Banana, Coffs Harbour, Australia
On the 2019 list, along with the Big Kangaroo at Border Village. Australia does love a big roadside thing.

North America

Empire State Building, New York
Construction began on St Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1930, so it’s a natural fit. Its tower has been lit in colours for special days since 1976. AP listed it among the green landmarks in 2010.

CN Tower, Toronto
AP reported it green in 2010 too. It was still on the lists in 2025 and 2026.

Niagara Falls
First lit green in 2012, from both the Canadian and the American sides.

Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign
First green in 2013. You’d think that sign couldn’t get any louder.

Britain

London Eye
AP reported it green in 2010, and it was back in 2012 and 2013.

York’s city walls
The medieval walls first went green in 2019. The Eden Project in Cornwall joined the same year.

The Kelpies, Falkirk, Scotland
New in 2025. Tourism Ireland calls these two steel horse heads the largest equine sculptures in the world.

Mainland Europe

Colosseum, Rome
First green in 2015. The Irish embassy organised it with Rome’s city hall and Italy’s culture ministry (The Local, 2015).

Leaning Tower of Pisa
On the 2012 line-up, and the lead photo of Tourism Ireland’s 2026 release. Green and leaning, like a few of us by the end of the day.

Cibeles Fountain, Madrid
On the 2012 line-up and still there in 2025 and 2026.

Manneken Pis, Brussels
He doesn’t light up. He got an Irish costume instead, on Tourism Ireland’s 2018 list of quirky greenings.

The Jelling Stones, Denmark
Two Viking Age rune stones from the 10th century, among the quirky additions in 2026. The Vikings spent long enough in Ireland to earn it.

Polar bear sculpture, Longyearbyen, Norway
New in 2025, and the most northerly greening that year.

Africa and the Middle East

Pyramids of Giza and the Sphinx, Egypt
First green in 2013. The trade paper ITTN called it a major coup.

Table Mountain, Cape Town
In the 2012 line-up.

Victoria Falls
First green in 2019. The falls sit on the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe.

The Cotton Tree, Freetown, Sierra Leone
Another 2019 first-timer. Sadly a storm brought the 400-year-old tree down in May 2023 (Africanews, 2023).

Burj Khalifa, Dubai
The world’s tallest building went green for the first time in 2019. The Burj Al Arab had been in the line-up since at least 2012.

Petra, Jordan
The Treasury at Petra, carved into rock, first went green in 2014.

Asia and South America

Great Wall of China
First green in 2014, when Minister Brendan Howlin did the honours. Only a stretch of it, mind.

Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro
First green in 2013. President Michael D. Higgins announced it on a visit to Rio in October 2012.

Ireland goes green too

Ireland greens itself as well. The Office of Public Works (OPW) looks after state buildings and heritage sites, and it lights many of them green for the St Patrick’s Festival.

It uses green filters, special lamps and the lighting systems already in place. In 2015, TheJournal.ie reported that the OPW had paid €30,000 to green Irish buildings.

Check the OPW and St Patrick’s Festival websites in March for that year’s list.

Why the Chicago River is dyed green

The Chicago River has nothing to do with Tourism Ireland. It’s older, and it’s run by plumbers.

The first dyeing was in 1962. The idea came from Stephen Bailey, business manager of the plumbers’ union and a good friend of Mayor Richard J. Daley, as WTTW in Chicago explained in 2014.

Plumbers working on the Marina City towers used green dye to trace waste lines. They turned up at Bailey’s office covered in the stuff, and he saw the possibilities.

Bailey and Daley first talked about dyeing Lake Michigan. They settled on the river, which was probably wise.

The dye, then and now

In 1962 they used 100 pounds of fluorescein dye, and the river stayed green for about a week.

Today it’s about 40 pounds of a vegetable-based dye, according to WTTW (2014). The powder goes in orange and turns green in the water. The exact recipe is kept secret.

Plumbers Local 130 still sponsors the job and does it from motorboats. They colour about a quarter mile of river, as WTTW reported in 2024.

Not everyone is a fan. The Friends of the Chicago River group objects to the tradition.

The Covid years

In 2020, Mayor Lori Lightfoot called the dyeing off days before it was due, because of Covid. In 2021 the city dyed the river anyway, without telling anyone, to avoid crowds, as AP reported.

When and where to watch

The dyeing happens on the Saturday morning of Chicago’s downtown parade, which falls on or just before 17 March. It usually starts around 10am Central time, with the parade around lunchtime.

The best views are from Upper Wacker Drive, the Riverwalk and the bridges at Michigan Avenue, State Street and Wabash Avenue. Get there early, and check local news for the exact date.

How to see it and follow it

• Start early. Sydney and Auckland go green while Ireland is still having breakfast. The Americas light up last.
• Tourism Ireland’s social channels. It shares greenings across its accounts, which had about 7.5 million followers in 2026.
• The #GlobalGreening hashtag. Partners and local Irish groups use it for their photos.
• Ireland.com. Tourism Ireland keeps a Global Greening photo page with the Opera House, Niagara and more.
• Your local Irish embassy or consulate. Their social pages usually list what’s going green nearby.

If a landmark near you goes green, go and see it after dark, then send the photo home to the mammy. To see how long you have to wait, keep an eye on my St Patrick’s Day countdown.

Why green, and not blue?

Surprise: St Patrick’s colour was once blue.

When King George III founded the Order of St Patrick in 1783, its colour was a sky blue. That shade is still called St Patrick’s blue.

Green took over in the 1790s. The United Irishmen, who led the 1798 Rising, took up green and the shamrock as symbols of Irish nationalism.

The shamrock’s link to Patrick is older again. The earliest written account of him using it to explain the Trinity comes from the botanist Caleb Threlkeld, in 1726. I cover it in full in why the shamrock is a symbol of St Patrick’s Day.

So by the time anyone thought of lighting up the Opera House, green was the only colour for the job. For the man himself, read the real story behind St Patrick’s Day.

Global Greening FAQ

What is Tourism Ireland’s Global Greening?

It’s Tourism Ireland’s campaign to light famous landmarks green for St Patrick’s Day. It began in 2010 and reached a record 725 sites in 2021.

When did the Sydney Opera House first go green for St Patrick’s Day?

On 17 March 2010, the first year of Global Greening. The date marked 200 years since Governor Lachlan Macquarie’s St Patrick’s Day reception for the Irish in New South Wales.

Why is the Chicago River dyed green?

It’s a local Chicago tradition from 1962, separate from Global Greening. Plumbers’ union boss Stephen Bailey saw green dye on workers’ overalls and pitched the idea to Mayor Richard J. Daley. Plumbers Local 130 still sponsors it every year.

How many landmarks go green for St Patrick’s Day?

The record was 725 sites in 71 countries in 2021, as reported by Tourism Ireland. Promotion paused in 2022 and 2023 and returned on a smaller scale in 2025. Trade press counted more than 400 places in 2026.

Why is St Patrick’s Day green and not blue?

The Order of St Patrick used a sky blue in 1783. Green and the shamrock became symbols of Irish nationalism in the 1790s, and green stuck.

More St Patrick’s Day reading

• Why the Shamrock Is a Symbol of St Patrick’s Day and Ireland
• The Real Story Behind St Patrick’s Day
• Surprising St Patrick’s Day Facts
• How Many Days Until St Patrick’s Day? Live Countdown
• Happy St Patrick’s Day Messages and Sayings to Share
• St Patrick’s Day Music: Irish Pub Songs
• Top 10 Irish Toasts for St Patrick’s Day

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