Spanish artist Chillida's "mountain" Utopia to come true (Feature)

By Sinikka Tarvainen Feb 20, 2011, 2:06 GMT

Madrid - 'Years ago, I had an idea which I sincerely thought was Utopian,' the late Spanish sculptor Eduardo Chillida wrote in 1996.

'Inside a mountain, create an interior space which could be offered to people of all races and colours, a great sculpture for tolerance,' he continued.

People 'would see the light of the sun, of the moon, inside a mountain looking towards the sea, and towards the horizon, unreachable, necessary, inexistent,' wrote the artist, who is regarded as one of the top 20th-century Spanish sculptors.

Nearly a decade after Chillida died in 2002 at the age of 78 years, his dream is about to come true.

The Canary Islands are relaunching a former project based on his idea, boring an artificial cave into Mount Tindaya on the arid Fuerteventura Island.

Hundreds of prehistoric markings of footprints on the 400-metre-high mountain, as well as other archaeological findings, indicate that the Canaries' original inhabitants regarded Tindaya as sacred.

However, environmentalists and other critics are up in arms against the Chillida project.

After having had the vision of a mountain turned into a monument, Chillida looked for a suitable sites in Italy and northern Europe, until he discovered Mount Tindaya.

'Geological and other studies have made it clear that the project is technically feasible,' Canaries Environment Minister Domingo Berriel told the German Press Agency dpa in a telephone interview.

Chillida's project would not only be a work of art, but also as a feat of engineering, and will draw masses of tourists, Berriel said.

However, turning Chillida's dream into reality would involve removing tens of thousands of cubic metres of rock from the side of the mountain, partly from the site of a former quarry.

'The mountain will remain almost as it was - because only 0.3 per cent of its volume would be removed,' Chillida's son Luis explained.

The cave would be as large as a cathedral, and have two openings to allow daylight or moonlight in, Berriel said.

Engineers will create a timber and cement structure inside the mountain to support its weight.

The Canaries regional government plans to put the contract for the project out to tender, with an estimated cost of 75 million euros (100 million dollars). Berriel said he expected the tender to be launched over the next few months.

The winning copmany would recoup its money through entrance fees paid by visitors within a maximum of 40 years, Berriel calculates.

Environmentalists, however, see the project as tampering with nature and as violating conservation standards. They also say it would endanger the prehistoric footprint engravings - a claim Berriel rejects.

Creating a monument inside the mountain would bring more funds for conservation and security measures, making it possible to protect the engravings better, he said.

Environmentalist group Ben Magec, however, intends to stop the project in court.

Critics also say the project will not attract enough visitors to cover its costs, and point out that an earlier attempt to launch it before Chillida's death became mired in corruption.

The Canaries government is still involved in several court cases trying to recover part of an estimated 15 million euros which allegedly went into the pockets of corrupt businessmen, politicians and spent on environmental studies.

Meanwhile, at the start of this year, a museum dedicated to Chillida's work was closed temporarily in the northern Spanish town of Hernani because of the country's economic crisis, after drawing more than 800,000 visitors in a decade.

That museum contains about 150 sculptures, but Chillida expected all of his previous work to be surpassed by Mount Tindaya.

'It will be done, though I may no longer be there to see it,' the artist vowed shortly before he died.

'We are working towards it becoming reality,' Berriel promised.

Read more about Nature

Read more about Spain Culture