Art that lives, breaths and grows

In September a spectacular cathedral will be inaugurated in Italy. The ceremony won’t be led by a priest, bishop or even an archbishop but by an artist. An artists son, to be precise.

This is no ordinary building. For a start, the construction materials include neither stone nor cement, only wood and real, living trees: 42 beech trees, 1,800 pine tree logs, 600 chestnut tree logs, 6,000 metres of hazelnut branches, ropes and wooden stakes. Nails are a big no no. Then there is the location: a green meadow 1,345 metres above sea level surrounded by mountain peaks, forests and wild flowers, not a house or road in sight. And finally there is the designer, Guiliano Mauri, who died last year at the age of 71.

The “cathedral” is being built by his son, Roberto, following the plans, sketches and measurements left by the late artist, who is most famous for his land art works in a sculpture park called Arte Sella near Borgo Valsugana in the Italian region of Trento. This work is thought to be far grander than anything Mauri “built” before, although we won’t be able to see its completion until 20 or 30 years time, by which time the beech trees will have outgrown their wooden frames and reached a height of up to 21 metres. Only then will the work of art be revealed in its full glory.

“Now there is a nursery”, explains Roberto, who sells high end fashion clothes for a living, “the trees are small, they are only one or two years old. They need to grow and as they do, so will the cathedral’s columns”.

A similar project was launched by Mauri at Arte Sella in 2001 and nine years later the shape of the “building” is just beginning to show: tree trunks, now about 12 metres high, are the columns and their top branches curve towards one another to create three Gothic naves. The effect is so suggestive that around 70 thousand visitors, or ‘pilgrims’ visit the living artwork every year. In the future nature will be allowed to take its course and the cathedral will be absorbed by the surrounding forest. The same fate is expected for the new cathedral.

The inauguration will take place on September 4 and in honour of the Year of Biodiversity. “We have chosen to organize initiatives that encourage a growing number of people to explore the beauty of the Pizzo Arera [mountain] during this important year”, explains Franco Grassi, who is President of the Orobie national park. For Roberto Mauri and his family the date will no doubt hold an added meaning. “Shortly after my father’s death the park asked my family whether we would like to create what Giuliano had already designed on paper and we felt it was right to say yes. I am merely the executor, I have no other merits. This cathedral is his alone”. 

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