The world's last surviving tea clipper is set to reopen this week following an extensive restoration after a devastating fire gutted the ship in 2007.
The restoration of the Cutty Sark, one of Britain's iconic ships that carried tea home from China, cost more than 50 million pounds ($80 million Canadian).
"Cutty sark" comes from the Scottish slang phrase for "short shirt or shift." The term was first mentioned in "Tam o'Shanter," a poem by famous Scottish poet Robert (Robbie) Burns, to describe a witch's garb (a "cuty sark").
The ship's figurehead features a woman, nicknamed Nannie from a character in Burns' poem, wearing a cutty sark.
There's a great deal of national pride in the ship's restoration.
"Cutty Sark holds a unique place in the heart for the people of Greenwich, Great Britain and indeed the rest of the world," Lord Sterling, chairman of the Royal Museums Greenwich and the Cutty Sark Trust said in a statement. "And it is splendid that she is rejoining the London skyline once again."
The Queen will attend Wednesday's official reopening of the 19th-century tea clipper, with the ship opening to the public on Thursday.
It has been raised 3.3 metres so visitors can explore interactive exhibitions and photos underneath it.
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario