Ralph Lauren donates $100m to restore flagging US treasure

Fashion designer Ralph Lauren has donated US$13 million (HK$100 million) to a project to restore the decaying remains of America's oldest and most cherished icon - the Star Spangled Banner which inspired its national anthem.

The giant flag which flew above Fort McHenry in Baltimore in defiance of a British assault on the night of September 13, 1814, and whose broad stripes and bright stars stirred Francis Scott Key to write his famous poem, is falling apart.

On Monday, flanked by President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, at the hall of the National Museum of American History - where the flag has hung for nearly 35 years - Lauren announced what amounted to the biggest ever corporate donation to the Smithsonian Institution.

'The flag was an inspiration to Francis Scott Key, it was an inspiration to me and I want it to be an inspiration for future generations,' he said.

The Smithsonian last year launched an US$18 million appeal to prolong the life of the 135kg, four storey-high national treasure, which has been damaged by 184 years of exposure to light, humidity and pollution.

Dozens of historians, chemists and conservationists have been assembled to work on the restoration which will begin in October. The team plans to study the flag in a laboratory and possibly place it under seven tonnes of glass. Glass cases have been used before for historical documents such as the Declaration of Independence, but no one has yet produced one the size of a small building.