La voûte des mains towers nine meters high at the Waldkater service station on Bundesautobahn 2 near Helmstedt. These interlocking hands symbolize the unity of people previously separated in two different German systems.
On October 3, 1995, the public received this creation by French artist Josep Castell. He intended the sculpture as a reminder to complete unity with mutual respect and maintain won freedom. Former mayor of Helmstedt Hans-Otto Kieschke initiated a donation campaign, founding the association Denkmal Deutsche Einheit to realize this goal. Within seven months, 400,000 Mark were acquired to make the sculpture possible.
Today, the association Grenzenlos – Wege zum Nachbarn e.V. continues to uphold the artist's attributes. In 2010, the work joined the European Sculpture Road of Peace. The school book publisher C. C. Buchner selected the sculpture for the title page of a history book for grades 9 and 10 in Lower Saxony. Titled Das waren Zeiten, the text details the history of divided Germany.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Aurora
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