Gesamtkunstwerk
WHS considered to be a "Gesamtkunstwerk" ( a work of art that uses all or many art forms or tries to do so). The term must appear in the official site documentation (description, AB ev or nom file).
Connected Sites
| Site | Rationale | Link |
| Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings | 6 references in nom file, including at Unity Temple ("Throughout, the idea of gesamtkunstwerk is embodied through fixtures, windows, and other interior components") and Jacobs house - "Wright designed all the furniture, mostly out of plywood, demonstrating that one could live in an individual gesamtkunstwerk without incurring great expense." (nom file) | |
| Le Havre | "Perret's project reflects his ideal: to create a homogenous ensemble where all the details are designed to the same pattern, thus creating a kind of Gesamtkunstwerk on the urban scale." (Official description) | |
| Major Town Houses | "The four town houses of Victor Horta in Brussels proposed for inscription on the World Heritage List are all outstanding examples of Art Nouveau, achieving an overwhelming sense of unity through total design, from the merest door knob or bell-push to the complete furnishings and furniture in every room." (AB Ev) – The Hôtel Solvay, the most complete work of Horta, is one of the most perfect incarnations of the Gesamtkunstwerk. The Maison & Atelier Horta were also conceived as a work of total art. (Nomination file, p. 20, 41) | |
| Mathildenhöhe Darmstadt | The colony "was realised by now renowned architects such as Joseph Maria Olbrich and Peter Behrens in the form of a permanent "Gesamtkunstwerk", a total artwork that is seminal in the history of architecture." (Official description) | |
| Palau de la Musica Catalana & Hospital de Sant Pau | "Like the Palau de la Musica Catalana, the Hospital de Sant Pau is an outstanding example of Gesamtkunstwerk, of which it is unquestionably the largest and most ambitious manifestation" (AB ev) | |
| Plečnik's Ljubljana | "The palace of the National and University Library has, as a Gesamtkunstwerk, preserved all of the attributes of its design." (Nomination file, p. 172) | |
| San Marino and Mount Titano | The Romantic "reconstruction program included the whole capital, making the entire city a "Gesamtkunstwerk", where every single detail was studied with care, showing in its stones the history of an independent Republic." (Nomination file, p. 23) | |
| Santiniketan | "Santiniketan was an experimental settlement in education and communal life in a rural setting. The community was in many ways meant to represent a uniquely Indian example of a 'total work of art' (Gesamtkunstwerk) where life, learning, work and art along with the local and the global intertwined seamlessly." (Official description) | |
| Schönbrunn | "Together with its gardens, the site of the world's first zoo in 1752, it is a remarkable Baroque ensemble and a perfect example of Gesamtkunstwerk." (Official description) | |
| Stoclet House | "Stoclet House is one of the most accomplished and homogenous buildings of the Vienna Secession, and features works by Koloman Moser and Gustav Klimt, embodying the aspiration of creating a 'total work of art' (Gesamtkunstwerk)." (Official description) | |
| Works of Antoni Gaudí | "Gaudí’s oeuvre unites art and technique in such a way that these two components cannot be separated, because he was at one and the same time an architect, a builder, an artist, a structural engineer and a craftsman whose objective was to create a total work of art. " (AB ev) |
Suggestions?
Do you know of another WHS we could connect to Gesamtkunstwerk?
A connection should:
- Not be "self evident"
- Link at least 3 different sites
- Not duplicate or merely subdivide the "Category" assignment already identified on this site.
- Add some knowledge or insight (whether significant or trivial!) about WHS for the users of this site
- Be explained, with reference to a source