Art on the way of fire - Fuerteventura and the Tindaya project.

A monument to the tolerance in Tindaya , a project of the sculptor Chillida.

                                      Tindaya mountain - photo destinoactuales

The birth of the project:
The Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida imagined this mammoth project in 1985, after reading a verse from Cántico and a night dream : a hollow mountain that would remind man its small and would be a monument to tolerance .

Eduardo Txillida Juantegi , Basque sculptor (10 January 1924 to 19 August 2002)

After the elimination of different sites in Chile , Finland and Switzerland, Chillida found his sacred mountain in 1994, and selected Mount Tindaya, on the island of Fuerteventura in the Canaries.

The idea of ​​an empty room created by digging the mountain then evolved towards creating a cavernous space, but filled with tranquility, experienced by the advance of the sunlight and the light of the moon.

                        Projecto Chillida

The cave was to consist of a central piece of 49 m. on 65 and 45 meters high, capable of contain the Pantheon in Rome. The room and all walls should be flat and dug in situ in the mountains. The light is diffused by two wells , the small 20 x 20 x 65 m. , the largest 30 x 21 x 65 m. The vistors access would be through a tunnel 68 meters long , by which a sea view is maintained.

    Plans the project - doc. Arup Engineering schematic of Eduardo Chillida Mount Tindaya Cavern

Chillida reportedly said : " My sculpture wanted this mountain, it is now time to see if the mountains wants my sculpture"
Here is the project in video :

Eduardo Chillida Tindaya from Sergio Casado on Vimeo.

 Difficulties :
After an initial technical evaluation, it appears that the room can not exceed 40 meters on each side and it will develop first a structure of beams and concrete to support the weight of the mountain, not composed of massive rock.
The will of the artist is then faced the challenge of ecologists, archaeologists and anthropologists, for whom Tindaya project would undermine the natural and cultural heritage of the island and of the archipelago.
Wall art against modern art, a fight that could result in damage to the  podomorphes prints, legacy of the Berber civilization prior to the Spanish colonization.

                          Tindaya - petroglyphs podomorphes - photo kaarel.sikk.info

This monumental sculpture to be a monument to tolerance and a work of art for the people of the Canaries, Chillida wrote just before his death in 2002 , "I do not want to be a source of division , or a stone thrown in political battles , I do not understand, and in which I have no desire to get involved . "

Towards a post- mortem solution :
After paralysis several times , the project seems to revive in 2008, a meeting between the Government of the Canaries and the Chillida family restarts the project as organizing a public competition for the award of the project , whose implementation will cost 75 million. The authorities want to promote quality tourism , to break the vicious circle of the "sun and beach " urbanization and replace it with this project making an identity to this desert island and its inhabitants . Discussions are still underway , critics citing the non- solvency of the company and the risks to the petroglyphs .
The project was finally stopped in 2010.

Works by Chillida - left, Praise the horizon - in Gijon, Spain - photo Suieras Roberto Revuelta - right , Wind Comb - San Sebastian - photo Woure Homs.

Sources :

- Euromag - Eduardo Chillida, un tailleur de pierre et d'acier - link

- Architectuul - Montana Tindaya, by Ed. Chinchilla - link

- Hollandse Nieuwe - Gran Canaria - Vrij baan voor Chillida-hahwerk in Tindaya - link