The border to Slovenia is marked by the Mur river in this part of Southern Styria, near Bad Radkersburg. Once a public-excluded security zone along the former Iron Curtain, the area became a de-facto nature reserve and is now part of the European Green Belt. Today, the view of the opposite river bank is relaxed, and both countries join forces to renaturate the course of the river and the pasture landscape. Supported by Naturschutzbund Deutschland [German Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union], the tower was originally only meant to mark the European Green Belt. In fact, however, it has become an architectural sculpture and a lookout that offers a panoramic view of the landscape.
Climbing up the 168 steps, one follows one’s own path, and yet one is drawn in by the landscape that can be observed from different heights and by the eyes of those one inevitably meets, because two intertwined stairwells wind up into the sky. At the highest point of this significant visual anchor, at a height of 27 meters, one finally realizes that the path never ends. The doubling of the ascent and descent and the three-dimensional interweaving bring forth the vis-à-vis.
The double spiral staircase with its opposed flights of up and down steps has a famous forerunner nearby: ever since 1499, it has been witness to the eagerness of Friedrich III of Habsburg to experiment and to the brilliant architectural design of his castle in Graz. The special three-dimensional experience it creates has made the castle a place of pilgrimage for architects. Among them was Klaus Loenhart, Director of the Institut für Architektur und Landschaft at Graz University of Technology. Impressed and inspired, he and his colleague Christoph Mayr managed to transfer the poetry of this historical location into nature.