CANBERRANS are in for a strange sight on Monday when a  34m long, 23m whale takes flight across the city.

The Skywhale is at least twice as big as a standard hot-air balloon, weighs half a tonne and used more than 3.5km of fabric. It took 16 people seven months and more than 3.3million stitches to design and make.

It will be tethered near the National Gallery of Australia on Saturday morning as part of an international sculpture symposium and on Monday will make its first flight over Canberra.

Centenary Creative Director Robyn Archer says she wanted to offer the highly visible canvas of a balloon to an Australian artist as a Centenary of Canberra commission.

“Patricia Piccinini is one of Australia’s most successful sculptors. Her work is seen in major collections in Australia, she represented Australia at the Venice Biennale and a survey show broke all attendance records for the Tasmanian Museum and Gallery,” Ms Archer says.

“Her highly imaginative work invites us every time to think about the human condition, and it was this relationship with the very concept of ‘life on earth’ that made me think of her. Many special -shape balloons have started to replicate characters or animals, but they are mostly caricatures and in the realm of kitsch, rather than art.

“That Patricia was educated in Canberra also makes this a celebration of the fine talent that the national capital has and continues to produce.”

The balloon was made by the world’s most experienced manufacturer of hot air balloons, Cameron Balloons in Bristol, United Kingdom. It has been designed to carry a pilot plus two passengers to an altitude of 3000ft.