Dieter Erhard of Art Center Seadrift has been helping to preserve the history of Monastery Saint Anton in Forcheim, Oberfanken, Germany. On Sunday, March 20, an historical walkway including twelve stations was unveiled. A walk down this path illustrates the history of the monastery from its beginning in 1647, including its use as a school and military base.

Three art pieces are devoted to the most important holy feasts: Christmas, Passover and Easter. Each sculpture has text engraved with words by local church members. They are mounted on a concrete cube with stainless steel and utilize sandstone that was once a part of the monastery. Each sculpture weighs about one ton. Christmas is represented by a tree; Easter by a cornered egg and Passover by a flame.

Dieter spent more than 100 hours learning the history and about a year to find the right theme for the three larger sculptures. It was mandatory that the sculptures not be too modern, and not too round, so as to compliment the modern apartment complex nearby.

The monastery project was documented by video will soon be available at Dieter Erhard’s Youtube account: Tennenlohel.
Dieter’s next project will be four sculptures at the Carlos F. Novela museum in Guatemala City.