Temple of Apollo at Hundstalsee
The Temple of Apollo at Hundstalsee is a work of art that is supposed to represent the connection between nature - people , art - people, as well as art and nature. This work of art consists exclusively of stones from the area around the Hundstaler See at 2289 meters above sea level, which were layered on top of one another without any binding agents .
Construction and data
The Temple of Apollo is a pure dry masonry that was built from natural stones from the area, without the aid of mortar or other binding agents. The construction technique of the dome is reminiscent of a borie . Raw stones are placed flush on top of one another.
The inner diameter of this temple is 3.5 meters. A throne was erected on top of the dome. The outside of the dome reaches a height of 4.5 meters, while the left and right towers each protrude 6 meters. A temple width of 8 meters extends from the outer left side of the tower to the outer right side of the tower. At the front there is a stair portal, the passage of which measures a height of 1.3 meters and a width of 0.9 meters and connects to a footbridge that leads into the Hundstalsee. The temple is protected at the rear by an avalanche wall. The total weight of the Temple of Apollo is estimated to be 350 tons.
construction time
Due to the long approach, the sometimes difficult weather conditions and the fact that construction could only take place on around 30 to 40 days a year, the completion of the temple took 20 years.
- Start of construction: August 1986
- Completion: August 2006
- Opening: September 2007
History of origin
The two artists Robert Tribus and Heinz Triendl answered the question of what they could create that would be preserved for posterity. - Something made of stones. First of all, they thought of land art in the mountains. Robert Tribus, a connoisseur of Greek mythology , and Heinz Triendl, who knew a mystical place, the Hundstalsee, decided to build a temple in honor of Apollo , god of the arts . It should be as archaic as possible, i.e. without technical aids and without mortar and the like (see construction and data ). Heinz Triendl sketched the first plan, and after a while, true-to-scale sketches of the temple followed, which were also needed for the building authorities. About a year before construction began, the duo erected a snow model around three meters high on the same spot where the temple is now.
On August 8, 1986, they went to Hundstalsee in the Roßkogel area near the municipality of Oberperfuss in Tyrol at 2289 m above sea level, drew a radius with a clothesline and began building. Approx. A month later, a complaint was made about illegal construction and ordered that this structure be demolished and the site restored to its original state. In 1988 a building negotiation was scheduled on site and an exceptional permit from Tyrolean nature and environmental protection was granted for five years. During the twenty-year construction period of the temple, numerous other demolition notices were requested from the Austrian Federal Government / Federal Forests (1988, 1992, 1996, 1998 and 2002).
After several court hearings and the resulting demolition notices, as well as numerous fines in considerable amounts that seemed to force the artists into a corner, the builders wrote the so-called Apollonian Manifesto in 1990 , with which they were able to encourage well-known artists to show their solidarity in writing. Also in 1990, the two artists were able to persuade the necessary members of the Austrian federal government to submit a parliamentary question to the then Minister of Agriculture, who in 1991 publicly spoke out in favor of the preservation of this natural stone work of art, but revised this in a court hearing in 1992. Because of this, the builders called for another solidarity rally in the same year, this time in front of the Golden Roof in Innsbruck , which had been preceded by a nine-hour sit-down strike in front of the ORF center in Innsbruck the day before . In a second parliamentary request in 1992 to the same minister, he again spoke out in favor of preserving the work of art, but with the stipulation that a new special permit for nature conservation and environmental protection was to be obtained. However, due to a change in the law, this could no longer be granted, as the building permit from the landowner (Republic of Austria) would have been required.
In 1997 the artists decided to fill up the interior of the temple with stones so that the term building could be avoided, but the building was redeclared by the Federal Forests as "a complex with fragmentary parts of a temple of Apollo" and thus again required a permit. In 2002, the temple builders turned to the new hunting tenant, also an artist, who spoke out positively and assured that he would initiate ways to preserve this work of art. In 2004, despite the construction ban, the keystone was placed on the dome, and a year later they decided to open the locked entrance and remove the stones from the interior that were used for a jetty into the Hundstalersee. In 2005 a stone floor was laid in the interior and a throne was built on the dome. In the same year, floor slabs were laid outside the work of art.
The year 2006 was given as the official year of completion of the temple itself, the completion ceremony was celebrated in 2007, and a portico to the temple is still being built to this day. Seven cairns will flank the way to the Temple of Apollo. They symbolize the seven wise men from Greek mythology.
In 2009 the Austrian Federal Forests approached the artists to put an end to this long-standing dispute. They granted the builders a usage permit for an indefinite period of time, so this natural stone work of art can legally exist after almost 22 years of disputes.
criticism
The Tirol-KURIER of December 1988 writes as follows: “As the Tirol-KURIER reported, Triendl and his friends are planning a“ natural stone monument ”that should encourage quiet contemplation. The Tyrolean nature conservation authority had no objections. The “actions” in the mountains had always been a thorn in the side of the Austrian Federal Forests : they had repeatedly called for the “construction work to be stopped”, especially since the hunting tenant had also sensed “danger of chamois migration”. In the meantime, the Apollo Temple in the Alps has led to an international campaign: hundreds of people have now spoken out in a signature campaign against the hostility to art and the abandonment of the work. The Innsbruck ex-minister and constitutional lawyer Hans Klecatsky also supports the group of artists: “In the context of the free right of way, the heap of natural stones from the area is certainly not an act that affects the property of the republic.” A corresponding expert opinion should therefore help the decision of the To challenge the district court. The regional court will no longer only have to deal with deer and chamois ”. Source: Tribus Robert - Private collection of newspaper articles
Videos
- Video of the Builders Part 1 - youtube.com
- Video of the Builders Part 2 - youtube.com
Web links
Publications
- Mysterious Tyrol - mystical, magical and mysterious things by Siegfried Weger and Reinhard Hölzl; 2007 by Löwenzahnverlag / Innsbruck, ISBN 978-3-7066-2401-5
- Myth and cult in the Alps by Hans Haid 2002 by Rosenheimer Verlagshaus / Rosenheim, ISBN 3-475-53132-1
- Tyrolean Gaismair calendar 1992
- Subculture magazine "artefact" special edition 2006
- Literature magazine "Gegenwart" January 1991
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 47 ° 13 ′ 19 ″ N , 11 ° 8 ′ 12 ″ E