1. Idea

2. History

3. Gallery

4. Literature

5. References

6. External links

The Stela for Tolerance is a social sculpture which has been spreading worldwide since 1994.^[1] The project is supported by the German non-profit organization Netzwerk Stelen der Toleranz e.V., which is based in Wiesbaden. The project is under the patronage of the European Parliament.

Idea

The starting point of the stela designed by artist couple Karl-Martin Hartmann and Kerstin Jeckel was the idea of designing a universal symbol of tolerance, similar to the red ribbon symbolizing solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS. The artists wanted to point out the sociopolitical meaning of tolerance, which is represented by the Declaration of Principles on Tolerance by UNESCO in 1995. This year was also the official United Nations Year for Tolerance.

The stela was designed in the early 1990s and has received its final appearance until 1994. It consists of a steel structure with two vertical profiles, which are connected at the top by a cross bar. The steel structure is protected against corrosion by hot-dip galvanization. Within the profiles are several layers of the red glass elements. The two outer panes are made of six-millimeter-thick toughened safety glass, and in the intermediate layer is an opal glass, a handmade broad sheet glass. The three glass planes are joined together to form a composite. The standard height of the stela is six meters, but the height and other construction details may vary.

History

The artists initially designed a 60-meter-high, red glass stela, which was to be placed in the sense of Land Art above the city of Wiesbaden on the Taunus Causeway near the Jagdschlosses Platte, in order to be visible from a great distance and to dominantly promote tolerance. In addition to support there was also criticism to the project from the local politics and the cultural heritage management, since it affects the landscape. To the supporters counted among others the CDU Member of the Bundestag and later Federal Family Minister Kristina Schröder^[2], to the critics counted the FDP politician and former Hessian national preservation expert Gottfried Kiesow. Despite building permission, the construction is still not done: Since the total cost of about 900,000 euros, which should be raised by donations, were not funded even after 15 years, the idea of the large stela was left for the time being in 2009.^[3]

Since then, the association and the artists have been making increasing efforts to set up the smaller, six-meter-high version of the Tolerance Stela in prominent locations around the world in order to build up an international network of tolerance supporters in the long term. Meanwhile (as of 2019) more than 20 of these stelas are in eight countries, including in Braunschweig, Geisenheim, Kfar Saba, Bethlehem, Wroclaw, The Hague, Tallinn, Tavarnelle Val di Pesa and at the Mid-State Technical College in the U.S. state of Wisconsin.^[4] The stela in The Hague has been visited twice by important representatives of the Dutch state: in 2017 by Queen Máxima of the Netherlands and the following year by the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte.^[5]

In 2014, the Stela for Tolerance and the association (Förderverein) celebrated their 20th anniversary with an exhibition in Wiesbaden’s town hall.

Since 2016, the association has been celebrating the International Day for Tolerance on November 16th with a special lecture on tolerance. The Hessian Minister of Education Alexander Lorz spoke in 2016 and the sociologist Necla Kelek the following year. After these two first lectures had taken place in the hall of the city council meeting in Wiesbaden’s town hall, the lecture of the psychologist Ahmad Mansour was moved to the integrated comprehensive school Alexej von Jawlensky in 2018.^[6]

Gallery

Literature

• Tolerance in mind: The project of Karl-Martin Hartmann in the Wernerkapelle Bacharach in cooperation with the Bauverein Wernerkapelle. Edited by Bauverein Wernerkapelle Bacharach e. V., University Printing H. Schmidt, Mainz 2010, {{ISBN|978-3-935647-49-6}}. (Documentation of a lecture series (2008/09) on tolerance, including contributions by Gerhart Baum, Winfried Hassemer, Necla Kelek, Bernd Kortländer, Ruth Lapide and Leo Trepp.)^[7]

References

External links

• [https://www.netzwerk-toleranz.de/en/ Official website]

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