Hilton Hawaiian Village Restores Rainbow Mural
The Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort recently celebrated the restoration of its iconic Rainbow Mural, with a traditional Hawaiian blessing and dedication ceremony.
The event was attended by media, local tourism officials, contractors and other dignitaries. Hilton invested $4.25 million to ensure the two-sided mural, once named the world’s tallest mosaic when it was first revealed in 1968, would be an exact replica of the original designed by renowned artist Millard Sheets.
“The Rainbow Mural on Oahu is the iconic equivalent to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco or the Statue of Liberty in New York,” said Jerry Gibson, the area VP of Hilton Hawaii. “It is synonymous with Waikiki and has been the backdrop in many movies, TV shows and thousands of vacation photos taken on Waikiki Beach.”
The original mosaic consisted of over 16,000 hand-painted ceramic tiles on two sides of the 31-storey Rainbow Tower. It provided a warm welcome for visitors flying into Oahu. The restoration project started in September 2013 with the removal of the existing tiles from both sides of the tower. The new mural features more than 31,000 tiles, colour-matched replicas of the originals.
