ECB risks renewed criticism with 'magic money tree' sculpture

Work by Giuseppe Penone is part of a a1.25m art project at bank's controversial billion-euro Frankfurt headquarters

The European Central Bank has installed a towering bronze and granite tree sculpture outside the bank's Frankfurt headquarters as part of a a1.25m (920,000) art project.

The work by Italian artist Giuseppe Penone, instantly dubbed the magic money tree, is a slender trunk with a perfectly round ball of gilded leaves at its halfway point. Something that looks like a faded beach ball is lodged among the barren upper branches.