Tree of Knowledge

A particularly eloquent example of how art may exist in a real and meaningful unity with architecture is ultimately the Tree of Knowledge by Lubo Kristek placed in the space of the staircase of the high school Ignaz-Kögler-Gymnasium in Landsberg am Lech. The staircase, beautifully worked into the space by the architect Kergl, wraps around the tree Kristek placed in the middle. (...) Rocks on the ground represent the soil from which the tree grows. Next to it, there stands a larger-than-life-sized figure of a man who looks up to the fruits of the tree with emotion. The seven spheres in the tree branches bear reliefs symbolizing art, sciences, eros and enthusiasm. Therefore, the staircase and the tree express the spiritual role of the school. The architect and the sculptor together expressed, in a language intelligible to the youth, the sense and benefit of all education. (...) One could hardly imagine a more inseparable and fruitful unity of art and architecture. Where could we find, in the field of art in architecture, a comparable example in Rhineland over the last twelve years? ‚Kunst und Bau‘,Steinmetz + Bildhauer, München, 5/1982, p. 396