The Goetheanum

On Monday we traveled to Dornach, a city in northwestern Switzerland, for a visit to a unique site occupied by a building called the Goetheanum. It was constructed in the mid-1920's based on the vision of a man named Rudolf Steiner who founded a movement dubbed Anthroposophy. Anthroposophical thought attempts to encourage each individual human being to nurture the soul and the mind by learning, self discovery and connecting with spiritual realms. The Goetheanum (which honors the great German philosopher Johann Wolfgang von Goethe) is constructed from cement with interesting lines, scoops and spatial relationships intended to stimulate contemplative thought. The windows appear dull gray from the building's grounds but display brilliant colors from the inside as light penetrates the stained plate that lies behind the outer layer. We toured the building and learned about Steiner's philosophies from our young guides. We returned late in the evening to Leysin to feed our bodies after a day of feeding our minds.


-Dave Clark