Julia Heinemann, research associate at the Chair of Building Morphology of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and initiator of the project, commented as follows: »The pavilion is travelling further now, after having invited people in Weimar for several months during the Bauhaus anniversary year to experience a structurally and intellectually constructed symbol of the open spatial concept of the young Bauhaus and the open concept of democracy, and to stop for a moment, take it all in, have a think, exchange ideas and opinions, and then reflect on it all«.
The 5 x 5 x 5 metre cube is a project of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. The approximately 2.5 tonne aluminium profile construction represents the well-known director's office of Bauhaus founder Walter Gropius in an abstract reduction including furniture. During the Bauhaus Centenary, the construction was located on the Weimar Theaterplatz and in front of the Main Building of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. It is currently still on display in the Dresden Hygiene-Museum.
The presentation of the Gropius Pavilion in Weimar's twin city through the city of Siena will be flanked by a Bauhaus furniture exhibition in Santa Maria della Scala, a medieval hospice and present-day museum building.
"I am delighted that we have succeeded in bringing the Bauhaus to Siena in time for the end of the multiple anniversary year. We have seized a good opportunity to revive the connection with Siena«, emphasises Lord Mayor Peter Kleine. He will open the Gropius Pavilion on 13 December in Siena together with his counterpart, Luigi di Mossi.
The cube's journey to Tuscany is a project of the cities of Weimar and Siena in cooperation with the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and the Bach Biennial Weimar.
The town twinning between Weimar and Siena has existed since April 1994, when the contracts were signed by the Lord Mayors Dr. Klaus Büttner and Dr. Pierluigi Piccini.