Page - 4 - in Analogue Meets Digital - History and Present IT Augmentation of Europe’s Largest Landscape Relief Model in Villach, Austria

MultimodalTechnol. Interact.2019, 3, 44 4of12 From all the individual wood-clay models, casting molds out of gypsum were made, which were then grouted with white cement. Thanks to a significant financial support by the Savings Bank of Villach(VillacherZeitung,4.9.1910,p. 5) inautumn1892, thebasementconstructionwascompleted, and under the guidance of College Fachlehrer (German for: specialist subject teacher) Dominik Haubner, theassemblingandmountingofall theReliefsektionenbegan. Aremarkable fact is that for thiswork, accordingexactlytothefourcardinaldirections, thecurvatureoftheearthwastakenintoconsideration. This amounted in a maximum height difference of 35 mm in cross direction and 70 mm lengthways [1]. Thebasementwas aconcrete foundationespeciallyprepared for the landscapereliefmodel in the park beside thecollege, theSchillerpark inVillachdowntown. During these works, a provisional low-level roof was supposed to protect the growing landscape relief model from rain and snow. It was, however, anything but waterproof and, thus, the condition of the relief model deteriorated repeatedly. At an early stage the construction of an “ordentlicher Pavillon“, an appropriate shelter building was envisaged, the costs of which were estimated to amount to approximately 30,000 Crowns. Its size was planned to be 12.5 m×25 m. Furthermore, rolling shutters oneverysidewereenvisagedinorder tocompensate for thechangingelevationandazimuthof the sun illumination. Regarding the vertical viewing angle of the visitors, the floor of the corridor around the landscape relief model was planned in a way that, assuming an average tallness, an eye height of 2.5mwaspermitted. Inaddition,plansweremadeforacatwalkgalleryataheightof5 to6m([3], p. 5; cf. alsoFigure2andtext furtherbelow). After thechangeofDirectorErnstPliwafromtheVillachTechnicalCollege into theMinistryof Education in Vienna at the beginning of 1899, the foreman of the college, Josef Paikert, assumed the guidance of all activities, and after his untimely death, the very capable school caretaker Josef Rautter took over, who had already been responsible for the production of the casting molds and the molding of the individual sections since the beginning of the work. His son, a graduate of the Technical College in Villach, assisted him, and thus, in 1907, the mounting of all sections of the landscape relief model covering Carinthia proper could be completed. In order to backfill the regions outside Carinthia,Rautter,hissonandthesculptorPeterPiron, alsoanalumnusof theVillachTechnicalCollege, completedthewhole182m2 areabasedonmapsheetsprovidedbytheChairmanoftheSectionVillach of theAustro-GermanAlpineClub, JosefAichinger. Since theSectionVillachof theGermanandAustrianAlpineClubcouldnotprocure the fundsfor the completion and the shelter-building construction of the landscape relief model, in the same year of 1907, the Relief von Kärnten was committed to the City of Villach. Subject to the influence of Hofrat (an Austrian title for Privy Councillor) Ernst Pliwa—then Sektionschef (an Austrian title for head of ministerial department) at the Ministry of Public Works in Vienna—and Feldmarschalleutnant (German for Field Marshal Lieutenant) Othmar Crusiz, substantial donations from this ministry allowed the stylish and functional construction of the shelter building. It was erected according to the plans of the MunicipalBaurat (anAustriantitlecorrespondingtoChiefConstructionEngineer)ofVillachRudolf Müller and finished in 1912, i.e., 19 or 20 years later than initially assumed [1]. The total expenses eventuallyamountedto20,000Crowns. Fromtheabovestatements, it canalreadybeinferredthat thewholeproductionprocessprovedto bemore intricateandcomplexand, thus,muchmoretime-consumingthanexpected. Themajorreason for this was that it turned out to be extremely difficult to obtain sufficiently detailed and accurate maps at the required scale, in particular for the Slovenian and Italian regions [4]. Interestingly enough, for the latterones, itwasalmost impossible toacquireadequate terrain information. In 1913, the painting of the relief model became due. After short negotiations, the internationally renownedgeosculptorPaulGabrielOberlercher (6 January1859–11February1915)waspersuadedto accomplishthis task[4]. HeworkeddevotedlyfromSeptember1912until June1913,except for the severestwintermonths. Oberlercher,bornasthesonofacountryteacherandsacristaninSanktPeter im HolznottoofarfromVillachon1January1859,wasanAustrianelementaryschoolteacher. Heworked andlivedinCarinthiaanddiedonlyoneyearafterfinishingthe landscapereliefmodelofCarinthia