La voûte des mains
La voûte des mains (French for: the arching of the hands ) is the name of a sculpture at the Waldkater motorway service station on the federal motorway 2 near Helmstedt . The interlocking hands symbolize the unity of the previously separated people in two different German systems.
history
The 9 m high and 50 t heavy sculpture was ceremoniously presented to the public on October 3, 1995. It was designed by the French artist Josep Castell. This was preceded by a fundraising campaign by the former mayor of the city of Helmstedt, Hans-Otto Kieschke, with which the 400,000 marks required were acquired in seven months to enable a list. For this purpose he founded the association “Monument to German Unity”. The artist's admonition to complete the unity in mutual respect and to cultivate the freedom that has been gained are attributes to which the association “Grenzenlos - Ways to Neighbors eV” is still committed today. Exactly 15 years after its installation, the sculpture was included in the European Sculpture Route of Peace on October 3, 2010 .
Trivia
As a symbol of unity, the school book publisher CC Buchner has chosen the sculpture for the cover picture of a history book for the 9th and 10th grades of the high schools in Lower Saxony. The German-German history is dealt with in detail in the book "That Were Times".
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Josep CASTELL - Sculpteur peintre illustrateur. Retrieved August 27, 2019 .
Coordinates: 52 ° 13 '15.9 " N , 11 ° 3' 6.7" E