Meeting Place: a gesture of reconciliation and remembrance marks a historically tormented border.The Meeting Place is on the German/Czech border where the Oberpfalzer Wald and the Cesky Les Forest meet in the gentle range of hills separating the two countries. The little building is intended to be both a reminder and a gesture of reconciliation, and its orthogonal lines suddenly emerge out of a meadow. As you approach, it seems to be just a wall, part of the Iron Curtain Iron Curtain Political, military, and ideological barrier erected by the Soviet Union after World War II to seal off itself and its dependent eastern European allies from open contact with the West and other noncommunist areas. . [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] But when you get closer, you realize that it is two walls, parallel, but staggered in plan with a little room in-between. One of the walls is made of Upper Palatinate Upper Palatinate, Germany: see Palatinate. granite, and the other of larch larch, any tree of the genus Larix, conifers of the family Pinaceae (pine family), which are unusual in that they are not evergreen. The various species are widely distributed in the Northern Hemisphere. from Bohemia. Stiffened by vertical steel stanchions at each end, the walls are formed from standard elements 3m long, 150mm wide and 50mm high. Interspersed with the stone and wood, are integral layers of glass, which filters light to a glowing green. The glass layers become increasingly frequent and deep as the building rises, so it becomes more luminous and transparent as it approaches the sky. [GRAPHIC OMITTED] The roof, where larch and granite meet, is made up of alternate strips of opacity Refers to being "opaque," which means to prevent light from shining through. For example, in an image editing program, the opacity level for some function might range from completely transparent (0) to completely opaque (100). and glass, which in ordinary daylight allows the interior to be light enough to read the two inscriptions (in Czech and German) on each side of the central table. In sunlight, striated striated /stri·at·ed/ (stri´at-ed) having stripes or striae. striate, striated having streaks or striae, e.g. striate retinopathy. striate border see brush border. shadows are thrown into the room--a reminiscence rem·i·nis·cence n. 1. The act or process of recollecting past experiences or events. 2. An experience or event recollected: "Her mind seemed wholly taken up with reminiscences of past gaiety" of the periods of national imprisonment Imprisonment See also Isolation. Alcatraz Island former federal maximum security penitentiary, near San Francisco; “escapeproof.” [Am. Hist.: Flexner, 218] Altmark, the German prison ship in World War II. [Br. Hist. of both countries? Externally, the walls are rough, inside they are smooth. The projecting parts of the two walls form eastward and westward places of shelter. The architects say that they intend to confuse visitors so that they will become involved--and indeed reconciled. Whether this works or not, the jury was much impressed by the power and execution of the small place. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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