Bruno Weber Park
Switzerland · Europe
About
Bruno Weber Park is a sculpture park in the Swiss municipalities Spreitenbach and Dietikon, and besides the Fahr Abbey one of the visitor attractions in the Limmat Valley. The sculpture garden is designed as a Gesamtkunstwerk of the Swiss artist Bruno Weber (1931–2011).
The park covers an area of 20,000 m2 (220,000 sq ft) and has been extended on the grounds of the former estate of Bruno Weber's parent. Over the years, it was decorated with dozens of columns, reliefs, heads and gargoyles. A 12-metre-high (39 ft) tower at the entrance area and the estate tower were also built, being landmarks overlooking the Limmat Valley. The family's estate was rebuilt in a "fairy-tale castle", with colourful mosaics and decorated animal sculptures. The Wassergarten was opened in May 2012 and is surrounded by two 100-metre-long (330 ft) "wing dogs" (Flügelhund) forming a footbridge, including a ballroom for events to the west. The Crawler is still not really finished, as well as the biggest project that previously existed only on paper: three oversized caterpillars in the water garden room. A few years ago, the ETH Zurich faculty prepared a feasibility study, but it was still not realised.
Although Bruno Weber began his artistic career as a painter and graphic artist, he is best known for his concrete sculptures that are some of the main attractions of the park. Since 1966, that material started to dominate his future work, because only concrete allowed Bruno Weber to realise his impressive visions. In addition, the choice of that material is closely related to the construction activity in the Limmat Valley as a kind of counterpoint; the same material was used for many apartment blocks that were built in the valley in the 1960s and 1970s. Two dragon figures (one male and one female specimen) mark the entrance into the magic forest across from the Webers' family house. That sculpture treats a motif running through Weber's entire work – the balance between woman and man. The dragon gate in the sculpture park is the prototype of the so-called Drachentor sculpture, which represented Switzerland at the World Expo 1992 in Seville. The first stones in the sculpture park, however, were already laid, as Weber Antoni saw Gaudí's Park Güell in Barcelona for the first time. Also, thousands of mosaic tiles adorn the sculptures of Bruno Weber. At the estate's own water source, opposite the Weber house, in the early 1970s, the artist built a fountain called the Source Goddess. It is one of the first concrete sculptures made by Weber, and he called it "his Indian character".
The interior decoration of the "ballsall", respectively Wassergartenhaus and of the villa was done by Bruno Weber and partially by his wife. The tower of the villa is 25 m (82 ft) high; the villa's ground floor is partially open for public access. The so-called Flügelhund is a beton structure and may be used as a footbridge overlooking nearly the whole garden, except the area in the forest to the northwest.
Bruno Weber Park is situated on the Weinberg hill towards the Heitersberg mountain, i.e. in the west of Dietikon respectively in the south of Spreitenbach. It can be reached by public buses in Dietikon, respectively Spreitenbach to Gjuchstrasse or preferred by Bus 325 from Dietikon Bahnhof to Weinberg stop, or by foot in about 30 minutes from Dietikon railway station. In 2006, the municipalities of Spreitenbach and Dietikon inaugurated a road, Bruno Weber Weg, leading from Dietikon station to the Bruno Weber Park. As of October 2014, the park has around 20 men and women working there, most of them volunteering, and a core staff of four. Before the final situation was getting worse, the staff planned to establish permanent atelier rooms for rental to artists and to have a place for the mosaics, furniture and small sculptures still made by the park's team.
Adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA). Photography via Wikimedia Commons.