GOETHEANUM

Between 1925 and 1928 an average of 100 people built the Goetheanum based on a design by Rudolf Steiner. The 38 m high structure is one of the earliest examples of organically designed reinforced concrete. Shipbuilders helped to develop the hitherto unknown boarding technique. The organic design shows what anthroposophy is all about: understanding life and promoting it. From a cubic form, the building transforms westwards into a freely moving expression, as if an interior were urging to appear. At the same time, concave forms define the Goetheanum, letting the surroundings shine in, relating the building to its surroundings. If you let your eyes wander over the tectonics and rock formations of the Jura landscape, you will find the forms in the Goetheanum. Expression and impression - two principles of life.  

Goethe, who gave the building its name, combined art and science in his poetry, in his nature studies on metamorphosis and color theory. As a result, anthroposophy seeks this synthesis of the true and the beautiful, the eternal and the present. Hence the name. At the same place and at the same height there was a wooden double-domed building created by Rudolf Steiner. This “First Goetheanum”, built in 1913, reflected in its convex, expansive shape the pioneering days, the awakening of anthroposophy. It fell victim to the flames by arson in 1922. In its place was the Goetheanum made of concrete, the material that gave the 20th century its face.  

The Goetheanum is the seat of the Anthroposophical Society, is the venue for conventions, conferences and performances and the site of the School of Spiritual Science and General Cultural Assets.