Sphaera at the Kapitelplatz in Salzburg
I was walking around the grounds of the Salzburg Cathedral trying to figure out my next move. It was rather hard to do this because of the constant buzz at the Christmas market. I figured that I should walk around the area to get my bearings. The Salzburg Cathedral is bounded by three large squares: One in front and one on both sides of the cathedral. Two of the squares are occupied by Christmas markets while the Kapitelplatz was curiously not. As I was walking around the Kapitelplatz, it was hard not to notice a prominent structure here. Rather is it a sculpture – Sphaera.
Kapitelplatz in Salzburg
The Sphaera is a sculpture of a giant golden sphere by Stephan Balkenhol. While the sphere itself is what people would notice immediately, another look at the sculpture would reveal that there is a figure of a man just standing on top of the sphere. I probably get the abstractness of the golden sphere but to add a life size figure of a man here is rather bizarre. Sphaera is the official name of the sculpture but it also goes by another name – Goldene Kugel. The kugel is a local chocolate snack that is known in this region. You can probably think of it as an Austrian Ferrero Roche. To my untrained eyes, the Sphaera is an eyesore, at least in its current location. I think it would be better placed somewhere else just not beside a centuries old UNESCO World Heritage site.
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